Alphabet's Google and the nation's second largest automaker
Meta, formerly known as Facebook, and ridesharing company
The moves are the latest indication of how difficult it is for companies to set firm plans for their employees' mandatory return as worries about a spike in new cases or new variants keep shifting deadlines. This fall, the delta variant spurred many big companies to postpone a mandatory return to early next year.
“A year and a half ago, we thought this would be for a very short time,” said
The firm's survey of 543 employers with 5.2 million workers showed on average 34% of remote-capable employees remain remote, but that would decline to 27% by the first quarter of 2022. However, the survey was conducted before news of omicron surfaced.
The delayed plans are yet another blow to already struggling restaurants, bars, dry cleaners and other businesses that rely on office workers as patrons. Particularly hard-hit are those in downtown or midtown areas of cities like
The delays come even as
“There will be a constant stream of new variants as well as surges and waning of cases,” Gostin said. “We shouldn’t disrupt normal business activity at every possible trigger.”
He noted that layered protection like masks, vaccinations and ventilation are highly effective at preventing virus spread in a workplace.
Still, the stream of new variants is having a psychological impact on business owners.
“Omicron has made me realize work life will never return to the way it was pre-COVID,” said
This summer, Girard's company aimed for a mandatory hybrid work plan to start in fall, but delta pushed back those plans to early next year. Now, omicron has her reconsidering not only those plans but whether employees should return at all. She renewed the office lease last year but said she's rethinking the physical office space.
For companies that have already brought workers back to the office, it's harder to retreat and allow them to be remote again. Still, some are considering new safety measures.
However, Swig says he's now closely monitoring the new variant and will consider mandating masks and even requiring COVID-19 testing a few times a week if the threat increases. He said he will reverse course and start hybrid or remote work if the situation gets worse.
“My first and foremost job is to protect all my staff,” Swig said. “I am going to err on the side of caution.”
Levin-Scherz noted many employers have set multiple dates for return to the workplace over the past year, and at this point are looking to resolve more uncertainty before they set new dates.
Target CEO
“We’re going to learn along the way and make sure we make the right steps for our team,” Cornell said.
“We've heard from our team members that they value continued flexibility in determining where they work and would benefit from additional time to plan,” said
Meanwhile, Google is indefinitely delaying the mandatory return to its offices. A company spokesperson said in an email that the update was in line with its earlier guidance that a return would start no sooner than
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