Facebook, concerned about increasing contamination from the Delta variant of the coronavirus, has decided to postpone the return to the office of its employees until January 2022. “The data, not the dates, influence our approach to return to the office.” a spokesman for the group said Thursday.
“Given recent health data showing an increase in Covid-19 cases from the Delta variant, our teams in the United States will not be forced to return to the office until January 2022,” he added. “We continue to monitor the situation and work with experts to ensure that our return plans to the office prioritize everyone’s safety,” he also said.
A few weeks ago, Facebook was still planning to fully reopen its offices by October, which required vaccinations and masks. Facebook offices outside of the United States could reopen later this year, depending on local health situations. Last week, it was the e-commerce giant Amazon that announced that it was delaying the mandatory return to the office of its employees until January 2022.
Then he followed in Microsoft’s footsteps. This week, American Express announced that it will postpone the return to office for at least October. The NBC channel made a similar announcement. Facebook and its Silicon Valley neighbors were among the first companies to recommend that their employees work from home, in early March 2020.