After Amazon previously announced it would return to the office on September 7 this year, Amazon has announced another delay until January 3, 2022, Reuters reported. The plan change comes amid a surge in the highly contagious COVID-19 delta variant in the United States. “As we continue to closely monitor local conditions related to COVID-19, we are adapting our guidelines for company employees,” the company said in a statement.
Shortly after the pandemic began, Amazon said it expected employees to return to the office in October 2020. That date has been postponed to 2021 as several waves of the virus forced bans and business closings in the United States.
Google and Microsoft also recently announced that they would be postponing back office returns to October 2021, later than the September date originally planned by Microsoft. However, while both Google and Microsoft require all employees who return to the office to be vaccinated, Amazon says unvaccinated employees can return as long as they wear masks.
Like other tech companies, Amazon has enabled a hybrid office / home working structure due to the pandemic. However, by March of this year it seemed eager to get everyone back to the office. “Our plan is to return to an office-centered culture as a base. We believe it enables us to invent, collaborate and learn together most effectively, ”the company said on its vaccination and testing blog. Well, that’s going to be postponed for at least another five months.
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