I was a remote worker at Google. I quit after the company refused to let me move to take care of my dad. (2024)

For the first year and a half, it was great. Everybody had the freedom to live where they wanted to live. It was a little bit past the immediate danger of the pandemic, so we were able to meet quarterly for offsite meetings.

The team I was on at Google was part of a pilot program in which employees were allowed to work remotely indefinitely.

Even though we were all working in different places, there was still a nice sense of community.

In June of 2023, Google changed the remote policy so that you would need VP approval to work fully remotely.

My department took the position that they would deny all new fully remote requests going forward unless there were exceptional circ*mstances and began trying to get everyone to consolidate into Chicago and Boulder.

Editor's note: Google employees were told in 2022 that they must be in the office at least three days a week. In June 2023, the company told employees that working remotely full-time would be allowed "by exception only." The company also offers "work from anywhere weeks."

I was in a fully remote job in Chicago, and I wanted to move to Minneapolis to be closer to family and care for my dad, who is suffering from Parkinson's disease.

I first submitted the request in March, and it was denied.So, I supplied more information, thinking maybe I wasn't clear enough, and it was denied again.

I copied in the VP who denied it, his boss, and his boss, and then Philipp Schindler, Google's chief business officer. I essentially said I was asking to move from a fully remote location to another fully remote location to be with my dying father.

I got no response from anyone except for a boilerplate email from the VP, who denied the request.

Google's new reality

The whole process was extremely frustrating. It felt like I was bashing my head against the wall.

There's such a weird cognitive dissonance for me. I have a fully remote job, so it makes no material difference to them if I am in one remote location or another.

It feels like Google is no longer the company that I joined in 2021. Frankly, I'm mourning the loss of what was a very cool work environment.

I think progressing up the ranks at Google is now linked to whether you come into the office regularly.

When my team got restructured in September 2023, I made it clear that I wanted to work remotely, and I think that was probably limiting for my career.

My director at the time told me that if I wanted to move up at Google, I should come into the office.

It was just friendly advice, but to me, if feels like the reality of Google right now. It feels like the company has a strategy to force out employees who work remotely.

There is no flexibility at all, at least on my team. During the pandemic, there was a sense that employees were free to move around, set up their lives the way they wanted, and still have nice jobs.

Now, those people who did move are having a pretty harrowing time.

When I had my first interview for Google, I was told it was different from other companies. That was the Google I was hired into.

Now, I feel a little bit foolish that I ever believed that a job would care about me as a person.

A spokesperson for Google told Business Insider that promotions are based on impact relative to business priorities and business needs and that remote employees are promoted.

Do you work for Google or have information to share? Get in touch with this reporter from a non-work device at tcarter@businessinsider.com