Google is sticking to its plan to bring most employees back to the office by September, despite internal research displaying that most software engineers are just as productive when working remotely.

Brian Welle is a human resources vice president at Alphabet, and runs Google’s People Analytics, which tracks employees performance and satisfaction levels.

When the pandemic struck, workers self-reported productivity “plummeted”, but by May the figures had bounced back.

Despite this findings, Welle also showed that “more than 75 per cent” workers crave “collaboration and social connections” at work, especially when working on new projects.

“There’s something about innovative work — when you need that spark,” Welle told Bloomberg. “Our employees feel like those moments happen better when they’re together.”

In May, CEO Sundar Pichai introduced a new “hybrid” work model, in which 60 per cent of workers would be required in the office three days a week, 20 per cent could relocated to other offices, and the remaining 20 per cent could work remotely full time. These positions would be allocated based on requests and announced in August.