Google has started calling employees back to offices, and it expects most workers to be at their desks at least three days a week starting April 4. But internally, some employees have complained that the new rules are set to be applied unevenly, with certain staff members and teams exempt from the changes while others are barred from remote work altogether, Insider has learned. These frustrations have escalated recently and made their way to top executives last week.

On Thursday at a company all-hands, where employees can submit questions to leadership, Googlers pushed back on the company's return-to-office plans, asking why all employees weren't able to choose to be permanently remote and arguing that the rules around remote work were being applied inconsistently, according to screenshots seen by Insider and people who attended the event.

Employees are able to submit questions using an internal system called Dory, where Googlers can vote on the questions they most want asked. The most popular questions typically receive hundreds or thousands of upvotes and are usually asked at the company's weekly "TGIF" town-hall meetings.

"Some [product areas] are open to remote work while others have a blanket ban, rejecting applications even if managers are supportive," one top-voted question said. "Although 85% of remote work applications have been approved, this statistic misses those who don't apply due to blanket bans. Can we get all PAs (product areas) to allow remote work?"

Another popular question, which was upvoted by nearly 1,000 employees, asked why Google's work-from-home policy wasn't more flexible.

"Google made record profits through the pandemic (and WFH), traffic has already increased (at least in Bay Area) with gas prices at record high, and people have different preferences for WFH vs work from office," the question said. "Why is the RTO policy not 'Work from office when you want or when it makes sense to?'"

The company had previously said employees could apply to be remote full time but the approvals would be made by managers on a case-by-case basis.

One person who attended the meeting said the questions were fielded by a member of Google's human-resources department, who told employees there would be some limits because certain roles were tied to offices or specific locations. Employees rejected from working remotely were encouraged to look internally for remote opportunities in other teams.

Most of the half-dozen current employees who spoke with Insider complained that the remote-work policies often felt arbitrary or unpredictable. One current employee said some members of their team who applied for permanent remote work were granted it but others were denied. Two employees said everyone on their management chain who applied for remote work was approved for it.

Some employees felt the remote-work policy was unfairly applied even within orgs, pointing to executives like Urs Hölzle, an engineering senior vice president who relocated to New Zealand, as an example. One current employee who spoke with Insider said a colleague was denied remote work even as their manager was approved to continue to work from home. Employees could also face pay cuts if they move out of the Bay Area or New York City.

A Google representative told Insider that different orgs had set guidelines on which days and how often their teams would come together in the office. They also said employees who needed more time before returning could request a work-from-home extension.

Employees in the San Francisco Bay Area and several other US locations are expected back in offices April 4, the company announced last month.

Some other tech companies, including Apple, have called employees back on similar hybrid schedules, while others, such as Twitter and Spotify, have announced workers can work remotely forever.

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