Google Tells 120,000 Employees to Work Remotely

Google has told 120,000 employees to work from home in an attempt to stem the spread of the coronavirus, reports CNN.

Employees in North America will work from home through April 10 while staffers in Europe, Africa and the Middle East will start working remotely on March 12.

"Out of an abundance of caution, and for the protection of Alphabet and the broader community, we now recommend that you work from home if your role allows," a Tuesday email from Chris Rackow, Google's vice president of global security, reads in part.

Google is the latest major company to encourage remote work.

Microsoft and Amazon last week asked employees in Seattle to work from home for the rest of March, and Indeed told employees in Austin, Texas, and in the Bay Area to work from home until the end of March.

Twitter also announced that it was suspending all non-critical business travel and events.       

Rackow's email says Google is "carefully monitoring the situation and will update the timeline as necessary.”

"The goal of businesses moving to work from home (WFH) arrangements is to significantly reduce the density of people and lower the health risk in offices, and also reduce the burden on the local community and health resourced, enabling those in need to get quicker support," the Tuesday Google email states.

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