Google has a new 'Work From Home' rule: Employees can't use…

Google is tightening its pandemic-era "Work From Anywhere" policy with significant new restrictions that drastically limit employee flexibility. Under the updated rules that took effect this summer, workers can no longer use their WFA allowance to work from home or from Google offices in different states or countries. Previously, employees could work remotely from any location outside their main office for up to four weeks per calendar year, with the freedom to use these days as needed.

Remote work no longer means working from home
The WFA policy is separate from Google's hybrid schedule , which allows employees to work from home two days weekly. However, the new restrictions clarify that WFA days cannot be used to work from home or nearby, limiting their use to locations away from both home and the main office.

"Whether you log 1 WFA day or 5 WFA days in a given standard work week, 1 WFA week will be deducted from your WFA weekly balance," the internal document states. This means an employee taking just Monday off to work remotely will lose an entire week from their annual WFA allocation, regardless of whether they return to the office for the remaining four days.

The changes also prevent employees from working at Google offices in different states or countries during WFA periods due to "legal and financial implications of cross border work," according to CNBC. Employees may be required to work during business hours aligned with their remote location's time zone.

Google defends changes as return to original intent
John Casey , Google's vice president of performance and rewards, defended the update at a recent all-hands meeting, saying the policy "was meant to meet Googlers where they were during the pandemic."

"The policy was always intended to be taken in increments of a week and not be used as a substitute for working from home in a regular hybrid workweek," Casey explained.

The policy shift comes as Google intensifies pressure on its remote workforce, having already warned employees earlier this year that remote roles could be eliminated if they don't comply with stricter hybrid schedules. Employment lawyers warn that such dramatic policy reversals risk damaging morale and driving away top talent, particularly high performers who can easily find flexibility elsewhere.

For Google employees who once enjoyed the pandemic-born freedom to work from virtually anywhere on the globe, the new era of corporate rigidity marks a stark end to an experiment that many had hoped would become permanent.