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Google has revised its “Work from Anywhere” (WFA) policy, scaling back remote working flexibility for staff amid industry moves to enforce office returns.
The policy, which was established during the pandemic, has allowed employees to work from a location outside of their main office for up to four weeks per calendar year. Now, Google will count one WFA workday as a full week.
“Whether you log one WFA day or five WFA days in a given standard work week, one WFA week will be deducted from your WFA weekly balance,” according to an internal document that was circulated over the summer and now reported by CNBC.
While changes have been made to the WFA policy, Google’s separate hybrid schedule policy remains the same. The hybrid model, also introduced during the pandemic, allows for two work-from-home days per week. The WFA permits employees to work remotely, but “WFA weeks cannot be used to work from home or nearby,” the internal document said. Staff are also restricted from working at a Google office in another state or county during WFA periods.
Google declined to comment on the policy change.
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The policy update follows Google’s warning to remote staff in certain divisions that failure to meet hybrid requirements could lead to job eliminations, according to internal documents viewed by CNBC in April 2025.
In January 2025, some staff were told that voluntary buyouts would be their only option if they did not return to their nearest office at least three times a week. Google isn’t alone in tightening remote work policies. Microsoft will require employees to be in the office at least three days a week, beginning with a phased rollout from February 2026.
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