Google has introduced a new benefit for Silicon Valley’s famous pampered workforce: free weekly COVID-19 trials at home.
The search giant deployed the new profit this week for all of its 90,000 U.S. employees, a spokesman said. The initiative guarantees them all a weekly at home a nasal swab and a lab test, whether or not they present in person. The company recommends that weekly tests be conducted on all employees.
The offer was so popular that Google’s GOOG,
GOOGL,
the internal website crashed shortly after it was released on Thursday. Employees of Google’s top search properties, as well as companies that include YouTube, Google X, Fiber Internet, and Artificial Intelligence, have access to testing. Google’s international employees will have access starting next year.
While other companies, ranging from Tyson Foods Inc. TSN,
at Delta Air Lines Inc. DAL,
, have begun testing staff reporting the site, Google appears to be the largest yet targeted at employees trapped at home since March. Google staff has received a work order from home since then, recently extended until September 2021.
Polymerase chain reaction tests, or PCR, look for the genetic material of the virus in samples collected by a self-administered nasal swab. Google contracted with healthcare company BioIQ Inc. to submit the kits and find the labs where the results can be processed quickly.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com