The announcement from Google is breathtaking, as it affects about 200,000 workers. In light of the company’s high status and reputation, its policy offers the green light for other companies that may have been sitting on the fence deciding whether or not to extend the work-from-home policies to now follow Google’s lead.

Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, wrote an email to his employees stating, "To give employees the ability to plan ahead, we are extending our global voluntary work from home option through June 30, 2021, for roles that don't need to be in the office. I hope this will offer the flexibility you need to balance work with taking care of yourselves and your loved ones over the next 12 months.”

It's been reported that Pichai unilaterally made the decision after internal debates and conversations. Pichai recognized and empathized with the dilemma facing working families, particularly those with young children that may need help with homeschooling. Continuing the remote work would help ameliorate some of these challenges.

German-based Siemens, the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe, announced that 140,000 of its employees may work from wherever they want for two or three days a week. The work-anywhere— several days a week—decision was due to a global staff survey, in which employees desired greater flexibility in their approach to work.

Back in May, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, in a paradigm-shifting, COVID-19-inspired move, informed his employees that they can continue working from home “forever.” Understanding this option is not suitable for everyone, Dorsey said he’s leaving the decision to either work from home or at the office in the hands of his employees. "When we do decide to open offices, it also won't be a snap back to the way it was before. It will be careful, intentional, office by office and gradual," he advised his staff.

Right after Dorsey’s announcement, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he would permit his employees to work remotely too. However, there was a slight catch involved. Zuckerberg made it clear to his employees that they’d have to tell their boss if they move to a different location. According to Zuckerberg, those who relocate to lower-cost cities “may have their compensation adjusted based on their new locations.” He added, “We’ll adjust salary to your location at that point. There’ll be severe ramifications for people who are not honest about this.”

A large number of companies, including Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Capital One, Amazon, Microsoft, Zillow, Shopify, Coinbase, Upwork, Lambda Schools, PayPal, Salesforce, Box and others, have all announced that they’ll extend their work-from-home programs in one form or another.

Google’s plan will have significant far-reaching ramifications. It's reasonable to conclude that many other companies will follow along with the marquee corporations that have announced the extension of remote work. Some, similar to Twitter and Square, may decide to make this arrangement permanent.

This could substantially alter the job-search landscape. It may no longer matter where a person resides. Google can seek out the best candidates—regardless of whether they live in close proximity to one of its offices or reside in another state across the country.

Job seekers won't have to feel stuck by only applying to jobs within a reasonable round-trip commute. They could conceivably send their résumés to jobs based in a wide array of cities—far from where they currently live.

They’d also be free to relocate. Many people are forced to live close to where they work. With the rapidly evolving remote-work trend, a person could move to a place that they love to live. It could be a huge cost savings to leave expensive cities, such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, to lower-cost locations with less taxes, more reasonably priced homes and a better climate. This trend could remarkably change and improve the quality of peoples’ lives.