COVID-19 Surge Delays Amazon Return To Office Until 2022

Amazon corporate employees will wait a few more months to return to their offices, after the company announced it will push it back until at least Jan. 3, 2022, after previously targeting September.

The move comes amid rising numbers of COVID-19 cases as the Delta variant has positive cases spiking again.

“We will continue to follow local government guidance and work closely with leading medical healthcare professionals, gathering their advice and recommendations as we go forward to ensure our work spaces are optimized for the safety of our teams,” Amazon said in its announcement Thursday (Aug. 5).

Google recently postponed its employees’ return to the office until October and said all employees must be vaccinated. Wells Fargo is pushing off its staggered office return until Oct. 4, while Microsoft is doing the same with its planned full reopening, which will require full vaccination of employees.

Yelp will allow businesses to list COVID-19 vaccine information such as which companies require proof of vaccination and whether the full staff must be vaccinated.

Amazon will require employees who aren’t vaccinated to wear masks in its offices, but won’t require them to be vaccinated. The company won’t require employees to be in the office full-time even after the pandemic ends. It will offer hybrid work for eligible employees, with three days a week in the office.

Related: Delta Variant Has Workers More Hesitant To Return To Offices

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week said last week even vaccinated people should wear masks in some situations, such as highly crowded gatherings where unvaccinated people are present, reversing its guidance from May.

A Glassdoor survey showed 35 percent of more than 1,000 people surveyed said they are worried about catching COVID-19 if they come back to the office. Two-thirds of respondents said they were still eager to return, according to The Wall Street Journal. In April, more than three-quarters of people said they wanted to come back to the office.