Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) announced that the company would continue its work from home policy for U.S. employees until January 2022 due to concerns lingering with the Covid-19 delta variant. With the delay in resuming office, Facebook becomes the latest technology company to delay employees’ return to the office plans until the following year. As a result, the company joined the league of Amazon and Lyft.
Work from home to continue till January 2022
Facebook had previously aimed to open the office for the employees in October for those vaccinated and wearing masks. However, given the delta variant’s concerns, the company delayed its plan to return the U.S employees to offices until January 2022. The company said no dates drive its approach for returning to the office. The delay in returning to the office is largely due to rising Covid cases in the U.S., as per the health data. The company expects this would be the case for some countries outside of the U.S., as well. The company would continue monitoring the situation and working with the management team to prioritize everyone’s safety.
As per the media reports, Facebook entered a league of Amazon and Lyft, which pushed back or delayed returning office until early 2020. Lyft said its employees wouldn’t return to offices until February 2022.
Vaccinated employees and wearing a mask are mandatory to return office
Facebook also asks people working from offices to wear masks, irrespective of whether they have been vaccinated. The company had previously requested its employees to return offices in October with strict vaccination and mask requirements. In line with Facebook, other technology companies such as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft had also informed that employees returning to the offices need to be vaccinated first. Google extends the work from home option till October 18, while Microsoft asked its employees to return to the office or reopen its U.S. facility on October 4. On the other hand, e-commerce giant Amazon last week announced the delay in reopening the offices until January instead of September this year. The wait is mainly due to the spread of the delta variant. All offices have informed their respective employees that anyone working from offices, irrespective of whether they are vaccinated, will have to wear the mask and which is mandatory.
