The Coronavirus is now spreading in the United States and there is the beginning of an outbreak not too far from the Microsoft office in Seattle. Two Google offices, one in Zurich and one in Dublin are impacted. The Zurich office had a case of an employee being confirmed with the virus. While some Google and Bing employees are being allowed to work from home, not all are.
Long time Google search engine engineer, Ryan Moulton, posted in a Hacker News thread his frustration with Google's lack of initiative here. He said "Really frustrated that my employer isn't doing this. I convinced my immediate manager to give everyone approval to WFH, but I cannot fathom why the whole company isn't. I don't know whether it's an issue of priorities, foresight, or capabilities." This is in a discussion around Stripe announcing that they are "encouraging - and, in some instances, mandating - employees to work from home." Stripe is also pausing all business travel and suspending visitors to Stripe offices.
Frederic Dubut from Microsoft Bing said he is telling all his co-workers to stay home and work from home:
This is the first message I sent to my team this morning. They can work from home if that's what they need or want to do, no questions asked - not that I've ever asked questions 🙂 but the situation, particularly here in King County, demands clarity. https://t.co/U6ULH23GOY
— Frédéric Dubut (@CoperniX) March 2, 2020
8,000 Googlers in Dublin are working from home after a Googler in Zurich tested positive for COVID-19. But in Zurich, I suspect many are working at home but hard to tell. At least Gary Illyes and John Mueller and friends are making the best of it - they are based in Zurich:
Please don't ever accuse us off working. Ever. That's a hard no.
— Gary "鯨理／경리" Illyes (@methode) March 2, 2020
We go to the office because they have kale for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and it's cold in the winter and hot in the summer.
Work?
— 🍌 John 🍌 (@JohnMu) March 2, 2020
I will be in 9 hours. I'm bringing you a Corona!
— Gary "鯨理／경리" Illyes (@methode) February 28, 2020
Seems like Gary is home:
(maybe I should go to the office instead of trolling on Twitter 🤔)
— Gary "鯨理／경리" Illyes (@methode) March 2, 2020
On Sunday, I did tell my employees they can work from home if they like - no questions asked.
Hope everyone stays safe and healthy!
Forum discussion at Twitter.
John also said he is not going to international events, he will video conference in instead:
Canceled all international travel, and unfortunately there aren't a lot of conferences in Switzerland. VC'ing in it is.
— 🍌 John 🍌 (@JohnMu) March 3, 2020
