Google asks tens of thousands of U.S. workers to stay home amid coronavirus fears

As concern about the coronavirus continues to build, many workplaces are encouraging people to work remotely to prevent it from spreading further. Now, in one of the biggest such moves yet, Google has asked all its employees in the U.S. and Canada to work from home for at least a month.

The new policy was announced in a memo to workers on Tuesday, and confirmed by a Google spokesperson to Business Insider. Those who are able to work remotely have been told to do so for an entire month, staying away from Google's offices until at least April 10.

Google has also recommended that employees in Europe work from home, and issued advice to its international offices depending upon the local situation. Google has numerous offices around the globe, however, some 100,000 of its workers are based in North America, according to CNBC.

"Contributing to social distancing if you are able to, helps the overall community spread and most importantly, will help offset the peak loads through critical healthcare systems and also saves it for people in need. (based on expert advice)," tweeted Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai on Tuesday. "Please contribute if you are able to."

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Of course, not everyone is able. Those unable to work remotely will still be able to go to Google's offices, which will remain open. In a blog post published on March 6, Pichar noted that affected hourly service workers would be compensated for time they otherwise would have worked. Mashable contacted Google for further clarification on the new policy, and will update if it responds.

According to the World Health Organisation, the global count of confirmed COVID-19 cases is currently at 113,851, with 4,015 fatalities. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus. The U.S. has 472 reported cases and 19 deaths, while Canada has 77 cases.

UPDATE: March 11, 2020, 11:30 a.m. AEDT A Google spokesperson has since provided the following statement to Mashable: "We can confirm that all offices in North America are now on recommended work from home status, if roles allow. Also today, we’ve made an additional commitment on sick leave: a COVID-19 fund for members of our extended workforce."

The spokesperson also stated that working from home was previously optional for workers in New York and California, and recommended for workers in Washington.

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