Google Calendar just got a major upgrade for hybrid workers

Google Calendar app on iPhone — (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Since the pandemic shook up our lives, plenty of workers’ relationship with the office has changed. Some have returned to the office, while others have continued to work from home in perpetuity. Some have the best of both worlds with a hybrid setup where they flit between the two.

That flexibility, though welcome, can get confusing. If you’re trying to arrange a meeting and don’t know which attendees will be present in person or virtually, for example. And it’s with this kind of scenario in mind that Google has updated its "working locations" feature in its popular Workspace Calendar software.

Google added the working locations feature in 2021, and it’s pretty self-explanatory: You can simply tag where you’re working on any given day. But the updated version lets you take a more granular approach, so that you can set locations for specific hours of the day.

“This will help you more accurately reflect your availability based on the physical location you set, which can change throughout the day,” Google explains in a blog post announcing the update.

To use the feature, simply create an event and click “Working Location.” Then select a timeframe, and add a location like in the screenshot below.

How the new Google Calendar feature works — (Image credit: Google)

While you can set this yourself, others with permission to update your calendar via delegate access can also update locations for the day. This, Google points out, makes it “especially useful for people, such as executive assistants, that manage the calendars of others.”

As a business update, this is specifically aimed at workers rather than private users with personal Google accounts. As such, it’s accessible to the following Workplace subscription tiers: Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade and Nonprofits.

If your calendar is within one of those tiers, then the update is available now for Rapid Release domains, with others rolling out from July 14.

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Freelance contributor Alan has been writing about tech for over a decade, covering phones, drones and everything in between. Previously Deputy Editor of tech site Alphr, his words are found all over the web and in the occasional magazine too. When not weighing up the pros and cons of the latest smartwatch, you'll probably find him tackling his ever-growing games backlog. He also handles all the Wordle coverage on Tom's Guide and has been playing the addictive NYT game for the last several years in an effort to keep his streak forever intact.