Due to the spread of Delta variation of COVID-19, U.S. companies are delaying the timing of employees’ return to office one after another. Not only Silicon Valley IT companies but also Wall Street financial companies are closely watching the situation and joining.
According to Bloomberg, Facebook said it would postpone the return of employees to January next year. Facebook originally planned to return half of its office workers in the U.S. in September and have all those who did not work from home go to work in October.
However, due to the rapid spread of delta variations, the government decided to reverse its existing policy. As previously announced, Facebook will make vaccinations mandatory for employees returning to the office and require them to wear masks.
In addition to Facebook, U.S. Silicon Valley IT companies are delaying the timing of employees’ return to their offices due to the rapid spread of Delta. Earlier, Amazon also planned to return employees to the office in September, but postponed it until January next year. In addition, employees who have not been vaccinated must wear masks at the office.
“We will delay employees’ return to office from September to October 18,” said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google. Google has also made it mandatory to vaccinate employees who work in offices. Apple also delayed its return to October and made it mandatory for all employees including Apple Store to wear masks.
Microsoft (MS) is also planning to require vaccination certificates from all employees and customers who enter its businesses in the U.S. In addition, car-sharing company Lyft has postponed its return to office for six months from this fall to February next year.
Wall Street financial firms are making the same move. Wells Fargo, one of the four largest U.S. banks, postponed the return of its employees from Sept. 7 to Oct. 4. BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management company, is investigating whether employees will return to their offices in October.
Some companies are taking tough measures against employees who do not follow the company’s policy, such as off limits and layoffs. CNN, the leading U.S. broadcaster, fired three employees who went to the office without vaccination.
