Google employees have been told to expect to work from home until at least June 1, in a memo sent by CEO Sundar Pichai to staff and seen by Business Insider.

He also said that any return to Google's offices across the country will be "incremental" when it comes. "We'll ensure that any return will be gradual."

Pichai said the experience of operating from home was giving Google an opportunity to reimagine the way the company works.

Google will announce its Q1 earnings today, revealing how badly the pandemic is ravaging its ads business.

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Google CEO Sundar Pichai has told employees to assume they will work from home until "at least" June 1 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and that a future return will be "staggered" and "incremental," in a memo sent to staff globally and seen by Business Insider.

For Google's fleet of employees in the San Francisco Bay Area, this extension will be of little surprise, as the Bay Area shelter-in-place order had just been extended through May. But elsewhere the timeline is less clear. In New York the shelter-in-place deadline is still currently set to expire on May 15, while Texas plans to relax stay-at-home orders this week.

Pichai told staff he could not offer "a specific date" for a return to Google's offices, but did shine some light on what a return might look like when it eventually happens.

"First, just as we were one of the first companies to move to WFH, we will be equally careful about our transition back to the office," he wrote. "There will be no one-size-fits-all approach, and the specific guidance will vary from location to location. Not everyone at a site will go back all at once – expect the return to be staggered and incremental."

Pichai added that once the company begins to return, it will be monitoring "local conditions" and adjusting accordingly, further suggesting that it will be a slow and gradual process. "We'll ensure that any return will be gradual," he added.

It's certainly not just Google saying this right now. As the world eventually returns to work, experts tell Business Insider that until a vaccine is developed, any return will likely begin with a slow trickle.

Interestingly, Pichai also said that the experience was giving Google "an opportunity to reimagine how we work," adding that the company would "integrate" what it had learned from this period and "search for innovative ways to hold events, engage with customers, and collaborate across distributed teams."

Here's the memo in full:

Hi everyone,

By now it's likely that the global pandemic has touched each and every one of us personally in some way. For those battling illness, dealing with personal loss, or facing another kind of hardship, we continue to send you strength and comfort.

As we start another week with most of our global workforce still working from home, I know that many of you have questions about what a return to the office might look like, and when. The six counties around Google's headquarters in California have just announced an extension to the stay-at-home order through the end of May, while many other localities around the world are issuing their own guidance.

We do not have a specific date for return. However, everyone who is in a recommended or mandatory work-from-home status should assume that will continue until at least June 1, 2020. (If you work in APAC and have been told you can work from the office, please continue to follow your site-specific guidance.)

Although we can't yet forecast specific return dates globally, I wanted to share some high level principles that are guiding our decisions. First, just as we were one of the first companies to move to WFH, we will be equally careful about our transition back to the office. There will be no one-size-fits-all approach, and the specific guidance will vary from location to location. Not everyone at a site will go back all at once – expect the return to be staggered and incremental.

Once we begin to return, our teams will continue to monitor local conditions and adjust accordingly. In all cases, we will listen to the best advice of health agencies, the medical community and our Global and Regional Incident Response Teams, who are constantly evaluating data to help us make the right decisions for each site.

More broadly, this experience is giving us an opportunity to reimagine how we work. As we look to the future, we'll integrate what we've learned from this period of working from home and continue to search for innovative ways to hold events, engage with customers, and collaborate across distributed teams.

I know that the prospect of returning to the office will produce different emotions for everyone. Some of us will be eager to return to our familiar workspaces and see colleagues. For others, leaving loved ones and the shelter of our homes may cause anxiety. We'll ensure that any return will be gradual. Even when offices do begin to re-open, those of you who are taking care of family members or have other special considerations will be able to work with your managers on a flexible approach.

Finally, for those of you currently working onsite to provide critical services to keep our products, offices and data centers running: Thank you! Your work has made it possible for us to help millions of others. I am grateful for everything our global teams are doing to deliver on our mission under these difficult circumstances.

Stay safe and be well,

– Sundar