- Google’s Chelsea campus in New York suffered a bedbug infestation
- Employees told to work from home until cleared
- The infestation has apparently disappeared, for now
A bedbug infestation has forced workers at Google’s Chelsea campus in New York to work from home while the building is cleaned.
a report of cabling claims that campus employees were told by email that “credible evidence” of a possible bedbug infestation had been discovered in the building, and were told to stay home so the site could be treated.
Exterminators were soon called in, and the campus was apparently cleaned and debugged before the start of the next business day.
bothering
The email, obtained by cabling and apparently sent to all employees in New York, claimed that Google told employees to file a report if they had symptoms of bed bug bites or saw evidence of bed bugs on the site.
Anyone who found bedbugs in their home was also asked to contact professional exterminators.
The publication also claimed that its sources said the infestation may have been caused by “several large stuffed animals” in the Google office, although it could not confirm this.
Google is also conducting additional checks at its other offices in New York, including its Hudson Square campus, “out of an abundance of caution,” the email added.
The news comes shortly after Google confirmed it would reduce permission for its staff to work remotely, revealing new limits to its “work from anywhere” (WFA) policy.
The changes will mean that Google employees will not be able to work from another destination, such as when traveling, as easily as before, as they had been allowed to work from their chosen destination for up to four weeks a year, which would allow them more time to spend holidays or extend seasonal holiday visits.
Workers will also not be allowed to use WFA subsidies to work from home or nearby, the company said, as the “legal and financial implications of cross-border working” had also made working from abroad inadmissible.
