Facebook announced Thursday that it will delay its plan to return U.S. employees to their offices until January because of concerns over the delta variant of the coronavirus.
"Our teams in the U.S. will not be required to go back to the office until January 2022."
“Data, not dates, is what drives our approach for returning to the office,” the company said in a statement. “Given the recent health data showing rising Covid cases based on the delta variant, our teams in the U.S. will not be required to go back to the office until January 2022. We expect this to be the case for some countries outside of the US, as well. We continue to monitor the situation and work with experts to ensure our return to office plans prioritize everyone’s safety.”
Facebook had previously aimed to return employees to its offices in October with strict vaccination and mask requirements.
Lori Goler, vice president of people, told NBC News in an emailed statement last week: "We will have a process for those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or other reasons and will be evaluating our approach in other regions as the situation evolves."
With the delay, Facebook becomes the latest tech company to push back its return to office plans until next year. Amazon announced a similar plan for corporate employees last week. Lyft said last month its employees won’t return to offices until Feb. 2.