Google is pushing back its return-to-office date by three months, to Jan. 10, in a decision that reflects the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus.
Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, informed employees of the plans in an email on Tuesday. He said that after Jan. 10, offices in different countries and locations will determine for themselves when to return based on local conditions, and that employees will get 30-days notice.
Like other companies, Google has repeatedly postponed the date when it expects its employees to return to work at its offices. Last month, Google pushed back its return date from September to October and announced that it would require employees who returned to the company’s offices to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
If Google employees return to the office in January, it will be nearly two years since the company asked its staff to work from home in the early days of the pandemic. The extended period of working from home has forced the company to rethink the future of its workplace and what is the best way to balance remote work with in-person collaboration.