Alphabet-owned Google announced on Thursday it is indefinitely pushing back its January 10 return-to-the-office plan globally amid growing concerns over the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Google said in August it would expect workers to come in about three days a week, ending its voluntary work-from-home policy, but executives told employees that the company would put off the deadline beyond that date.
The company said Google said it would “continue to determine when offices reopen and start the hybrid work week based on local conditions, which are dynamic and vary greatly across locations”.
The company will wait until the new year to assess when US offices can safely resume a “stable, long-term working environment”, Chris Rackow, vice-president of global security, wrote in an email to staff, according to excerpts published on Thursday by CNBC.
Google said about 40% of staff have returned to work. Google has 18 Asia-Pacific offices.
In September, Microsoft postponed plans to bring workers back to its US offices, while Amazon, Meta and Uber also decided to delay return plans to 2022.
- Reuters, with George Russell
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