Several of Austin's largest and newest office towers could stand mostly empty until at least next summer. That's because big tech employers are increasingly taking a long view of the Covid-19 pandemic and the risks it poses -- and siding with long-term work from home policies.
Google is the latest to make a major move. The tech giant, which has expanded rapidly in Austin in recent years, will have its employees work from home until July 2021, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
The move impacts 200,000 full-time and contract workers throughout Google's parent company, Alphabet. That includes 1,100-plus in Austin, where the company has 10 floors of space at a relatively new 29-story tower at Second and San Antonio that bares the company's name at the top.
Austin is Google's 7th largest office beyond the Bay Area, and its local operations include Android, G Suite, Google Play, Cloud, staffing and recruiting, people operations, finance and marketing. But the company has foreshadowed major growth here with two new leases.
Google recently leased an entire seven-story building just east of I-35 at the new Saltillo development where it began moving employees in at the start of the year. Meanwhile, it reportedly leased an entire 35-story building at Cesar Chavez and Nueces, which could house up to 5,000 people. That was slated for 2023.
Google's work from home decision is among several in the tech industry in recent weeks as large swaths of the U.S. have failed to stop the rampant spread of the coronavirus. Google first announced its work from home plan in early March, when it planned to have employees at home for a month.
That turned out to be optimistic. And Google, like many of tech's largest employers, has largely had employees at home ever since. It had been anticipating opening offices in January prior to its latest reported decision.
Last week, Austin-based careers company Indeed.com announced it would have employees work from home until at least July 2021. That impacts 2,000 local employees who were spread across highly visible office towers downtown, at the Domain and near RR 2222 and Loop 360.
