Google Workspace really wants you to tell your team where you are
New change to Google Calendar could be mandatory
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Google Workspacehas announced a new tool that will allow organizations to encourage, or even require, that employees provide their working locations and hours.
The Working Location setting, which adds a customizable banner toGoogle Calendarcontaining a user’s status, has already been available to theonline collaboration toolsenterprise users at their own discretion.
In ablog postannouncing the news,Googleclaims that by giving IT admins the ability to increase the usage of Working Location, teams will be better placed to plan meetings across virtual and in-person settings for additional safety and convenience.
Hybrid working convenience
Much like the recent announcement ofMicrosoft Places, Google believes that supporting hybrid working environments is necessary as organizations live through the Covid-19 pandemic.
It also claims that giving IT admins the ability to control Working Location usage will better educate users about enhancements that have come to the banner over the last few months. These have included additional location context for RSVPing to events in Calendar, and location support for specific buildings and rooms.
In July 2022,Google turned Working Locations on by default, without users having to manually enable the feature in their Calendar settings.
Some workers might take issue with Google essentially moving to mandate how organizations are run, and infringe on their privacy at work.
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Check out our list of the best calendar apps right now>Google Workspace is making it much harder for you to skip that awkward meeting>This Google Calendar update gives your co-workers nowhere to hide
As a counterpoint, then, know that IT admins will also continue to have the ability to disable the Working Location banner, and the new tool for admins will also disable the feature by default.
The admin tool for Google Calendar’s Working Location banner will only be available on a select few price plans, and won’t be available to users with personal Google accounts.
Luke Hughes holds the role of Staff Writer at TechRadar Pro, producing news, features and deals content across topics ranging from computing to cloud services, cybersecurity, data privacy and business software.
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