Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai has sent an email to employees encouraging them to return to work in the office for approximately three days per week as lockdowns ease. Google has been reopening their offices since April and has now laid out the details of how it envisages the new hybrid working week. 

Google was one of the first companies to offer working from home when the pandemic struck last year. In the email, seen by the BBC, Mr Pichai writes about the benefits of being in an office: "For more than 20 years, our employees have been coming to the office to solve interesting problems - in a cafe, around a whiteboard, or during a pick-up game of beach volleyball or cricket." He said that in locations where offices had already opened, "we've seen nearly 60% of Googlers choosing to come back".

Twitter, by contrast, has said that employees can work from home "forever". Facebook has also said that its employees can continue to be home-based.