Facebook delays return to US offices to 2022
The company will also require COVID-19 vaccinations for employees.
Facebook has pushed back its reopening plans.
With the surge of COVID-19 cases and the spread of the delta variant, Facebook told its US employees on Thursday that they won't be required to come back into offices until January 2022. The company had initially planed to reopen its US offices at 50% capacity by September and implement a full return by October.
"Data, not dates, is what drives our approach for returning to the office," a company representative said in a statement. "Given the recent health data showing rising Covid cases based on the Delta variant, our teams in the US 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 said last month that it would require workers on its US campuses to be vaccinated. In addition, the company now requires people in all its US offices to wear a mask, regardless of vaccination status.
The social network is one of many Silicon Valley giants that have pushed back their projected reopening dates. In July, Google delayed the company's mandatory return to office date to Oct. 18, postponing it from an earlier goal of September. The search giant, like Facebook, will require vaccinations for employees working on the company's campuses. Apple, too, reportedly postponed its office reopening by at least a month, pushing the new projected reopening to at least October.
Other tech companies that have delayed their reopening plans include Twitter, which said last month that it was closing its opened offices in New York and San Francisco and pausing future office reopenings, and Uber, which pushed its global return to office date back to Oct. 25, a delay from its original goal of September.
These changes come as many companies, including Facebook, are expanding their remote work policies. In June, the social network opened up its remote work program to employees at all levels within the company. Twitter has given its employees the option to work from home permanently, while Google has outlined a hybrid work model, with employees typically coming into the office three days a week.