Google to keep employees working from home until July 2021

Tech behemoth Alphabet will keep Google employees working from home until at least July 2021, making it the first major US corporation to formalise an extended return to work timetable as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The move will apply to nearly all of Alphabet's roughly 200,000 full-time and contract employees, according to Dow Jones, and will likely pressure other technology firms to follow.

Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai was said to have made the decision himself just last week as part of an effort to assist employees with families to plan for the uncertain school year ahead.

The new date puts Alphabet firmly in the more cautious category of firms weighing up the efficacy of remote work amid a surge in new Covid-19 cases with the safety of employees and efforts to reopen the US economy.

Google was expected to announce the extended timeline internally as soon as Monday.

As of 1625 BST, Alphabet shares were up0.98% at $1,522.92 each.