Google employees are reportedly frustrated with management over its requirement that workers return to the office — particularly as they have grown alarmed over the high number of COVID-19 infections among company staffers.
The grumblings bubbled to the surface after it was reported last week that there was a COVID outbreak at Google’s Silicon Beach campus in Venice, Calif., where 145 people were said to be infected.
The Los Angeles County Department of Health said the outbreak at the campus was the largest at any private employer.
Scores of COVID cases were reported among staffers at Google’s Playa Vista facility. GC ImagesJust four miles away at Google’s Playa Vista campus, health officials said, there were 135 cases of COVID infections.
“There has not been a significant increase of onsite COVID-19 transmission on our campuses,” a Google spokesperson told CNBC.
“The numbers that have been reported in Playa Vista and Venice reflect total cases over the last few months, not current or active cases.”
Google has required its employees to work from the office for a minimum of three days a week starting in April.
Staffers have reportedly been exchanging memes on an internal sharing site mocking the frequent notifications of COVID-19 staff infections.
One popular meme that went viral among employees shows an inbox with the email subject from a Google manager in San Francisco that reads: “We’re so excited to see you back in the office!”
The next email shows one with a subject line: “Notification of Confirmed COVID-19 Case.”
Some Google employees are said to be urging the company to drop its vaccine mandate. GC ImagesAnother meme features Star Wars character Rey exclaim: “I didn’t know there was this much ‘Notification of Confirmed COVID-19 Cases’ in the whole galaxy.”
Google employees based in the San Francisco Bay Area reported that they received a higher-than-normal volume of notifications after the company held a return-to-office concert featuring Lizzo at the Shoreline Amphitheater, not far from the company’s main campus in Mountain View.
The COVID outbreaks have also prompted a group of unvaccinated Google employees to urge the company to drop its vaccination mandate.
The group, which is said to number hundreds of members, posted a manifesto on the company’s internal server called “No Vaccine Mandate” which argues that it’s not necessary to continue to require that employees get vaccinated since it hasn’t prevented outbreaks.
Google does not permit unvaccinated employees to enter its facilities, though it relaxed an earlier edict requiring workers to get the shot in order to continue being on the company payroll.
“We’ve seen waves of Covid-particularly since December 2021 with Omicron and its sub variants spread through Google offices with little regard for vaccination status,” the anonymous manifesto reads.
“We’ve seen many fully vaccinated and boosted colleagues call out sick for multiple days with Covid.”
“We’ve seen both panics and good natured responses to the flood of exposure notifications received by officegoers.”
