Google rolls out free, weekly at-home Covid-19 testing for all US employees

Alphabet’s Google said on Friday it is offering free and weekly at-home Covid-19 testing for all its US employees and plans to expand the benefit globally during the next year.

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A Google spokesman said the company had rolled out the benefit this week for all 90,000 US employees, with the initiative guaranteeing them a weekly, at-home nasal swab and a lab analysis.

The company is recommending every staffer be tested weekly, although it is not mandatory, the spokesman said.

Google will allow its employees to work from home until September next year, extending the return to the office by a few months, the New York Times reported on Monday.

The company was also testing the idea of a "flexible workweek" once it is safe to return to the office, Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai told the company's staff in an email on Sunday, according to the report.

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As part of the plan, Google’s employees would be expected to work at least three days a week in the office while working from home the other days, the newspaper report said.

“We are testing a hypothesis that a flexible work model will lead to greater productivity, collaboration, and well-being,” Pichai wrote in the email.

Google was one of the first companies to ask its employees to work from home due to the pandemic. It has previously delayed the timing by when the employees should return to the office from January next year to July.