Companies are becoming innovative in giving new advantages to getting people to return to or set up new positions in offices. There is no one-size-fits-all approach for the future of our workplaces. The epidemic has radically changed how we think about workplaces, working remotely, and employees’ workplace demands, implying that there is no longer a “normal” style of working. Google appears to believe that free electric scooters are the solution. After nearly two years of online and hybrid work, Google is preparing to reintroduce its American employees to the office this week. Google is well-known for its employee benefits, such as free shuttle buses in Silicon Valley, but the business goes a step closer to achieving complimentary electric scooters. According to reports, Google is collaborating with e-scooter manufacturer Unagi to develop a new program dubbed “Ride Scoot,” in which the majority of Google’s US-based workers would be paid for the full cost of a monthly fee to Unagi’s Model One Scooter.
The $990 Model One is a compact twin-engine scooter with a peak performance of 32 km/h and a range of 24 kilometers. According to Unagi founder and CEO David Hyman, the goal was to enable Google employees to get to the office or simply the nearby bus stop. “You can tell the staff is worried,” Hyman remarked. “People have grown accustomed to working from home. And they’re simply doing everything they can to improve the user experience of returning. Google workers must also ride the scooter at least nine times each month to earn a full return of their $49 premium membership as part of the incentives.
Google’s US operations in Mountain View, Seattle, Kirkland, Irvine, Sunnyvale, Playa Vista, Austin, and New York City will be eligible for the perk. Google said in January that it will invest £730 million ($1 billion) to “revitalize” its UK operations, with staff expected to increase from 6,400 to 10,000. In the United Kingdom, Google is increasing capacity by 50% and purchasing a London campus in downtown Saint Giles, which will allegedly contain quiet zones, lounge areas, team pods for collaboration, and covered outdoor workplaces so staff can work outside. With these expenditures throughout the world, the technology giant is aggressively encouraging the returning to the office.
