Location, location, location; how Google Calendar is embracing the changes in how/where we work
First up, apologies for the sickening image accompanying this piece; all will become clear, honest!
It is blindingly obvious that, for a lot of us, how – and where – we work has changed over the last 18 months. Cos….y’know….global pandemic and all.
It all used to be SO simple. Get up, go to the office, see the same people(ish) as the previous day, do some hopefully fun and meaningful work that might involve a meeting or two in person, go home, do it all again the next day.
But now, the chances are you’re sometimes in the office, sometimes not. And it might be on the same day as some of your teammates, sometimes not. Online meetings are still a thing. Real life meetings are becoming more of a thing again. While we’ve always been fans of Google Calendar for its functionality, they’ve recently rolled out a new feature that we think will make managing our new ‘hybrid’ way of working even easier.
Users will be able to show where they’ll be working on any given day of the week, via a new option in their Google Calendar settings. The feature started rolling out on 30th August for users on select Google Workspace plans, and is accessible via Calendar’s settings menu alongside its existing working hours options, as well as on the weekly calendar view below where it shows each day’s dates. Available work locations include “Office,” “Home,” “Unspecified,” or “Somewhere else.” We quite like the mystery of ‘somewhere else’…tropical paradise, anyone?!
Google has added the option so it’s “easier to plan in-person collaboration or set expectations in a hybrid workplace”. Sensible, considering we now inevitably have to think about more than just the hours that someone works – it’s also helpful to now know where they’re working those hours.
These new working locations will be switched off by default, but it’s super simple for users to enable it. For now, the feature will only be available across certain tiers – Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, Nonprofits, and G Suite Business.
Don’t forget, as a Google Partner, we’re well placed to guide you on this or Google Workspace in general. Whether you’re seasoned users looking to make the platform work harder for you, or you’re toying with the idea of moving your organisation onto it, we can help. You can find out more about that here, or drop us a line here – we’d love to chat to you!
