Google has come up with a new benefit for the pampered Silicon Valley workforce: free, weekly, home-tested testing of COVID-19.
The search giant launched the new benefit for all 90,000 American employees this week, a spokesman said. The initiative guarantees all of them a weekly, home, nasal swab and laboratory test – whether they report for personal service or not. The company recommends that each staff be tested weekly.
The offer turned out to be so popular that Google GOOG,
GOOGL,
the internal site for it collapsed shortly after it went live on Thursday. Employees at Google’s flagship search properties, as well as the company’s weapons, including YouTube, Google X, fiber internet and artificial intelligence, have access to testing. Google’s international employees will be given access starting next year.
While other companies from Tyson Foods Inc. TSN,
to Delta Air Lines Inc. DAL
, have begun testing staff reporting on the spot, Google appears to be the largest intended for employees left at home since March. Google staff has since been commissioned to work, 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 has contracted with healthcare company BioIQ Inc. to send the kits and find the labs where the results can be processed quickly.
An extended version of this report appears on WSJ.com