Amazon Delays Employees' Return to Office to January 2022

E-commerce giant Amazon has reportedly delayed the return of employees to its offices until January 2022 amidst ongoing worries about coronavirus variants. The company also announced it would not mandate vaccination for returning employees.

GeekWire reports that the e-commerce and tech giant Amazon informed employees this week that it plans to delay the return to regular office work until January 3, 2022 amidst fears of the Delta variant of the coronavirus. Amazon had previously told employees to expect to return to the office regularly starting September 7th, 2021.

VAN HORN, TEXAS – JULY 20: Jeff Bezos speaks about his flight on Blue Origin’s New Shepard into space during a press conference on July 20, 2021 in Van Horn, Texas. Mr. Bezos and the crew that flew with him were the first human spaceflight for the company. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Amazon, unlike companies including Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, will not be requiring proof of vaccination for employees to return to work. Amazon will, however, require employees to wear masks in the office, except for those who can verify that they have been fully vaccinated.

Mark Zuckerberg at Georgetown

Amazon’s decision comes as many tech firms attempt to determine how best to return their offices to normal working operations. Earlier this week, Microsoft said that it plans to fully open its U.S. offices on October 4 and all employees must be vaccinated. Google and Apple have announced similar timeframes.

Google and Facebook have both stated that proof of vaccination will be required to return to its offices. Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a memo to employees recently: “Anyone coming to work on our campuses will need to be vaccinated. We’re rolling this policy out in the U.S. in the coming weeks and will expand to other regions in the coming months. Getting vaccinated is one of the most important ways to keep ourselves and our communities healthy in the months ahead.”

Just a few short hours after Google’s announcement, Facebook enacted a similar policy. Lori Goler, Facebook’s vice president of people, told employees: “As our offices reopen, we will be requiring anyone coming to work at any of our US campuses to be vaccinated. How we implement this policy will depend on local conditions and regulations. 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. We continue to work with experts to ensure our return to office plans prioritize everyone’s health and safety.”

In March, Amazon said that it planned “return to an office-centric culture as our baseline,” but in June the company altered its stance saying it would offer “a mix of working between the office and home,” but still requiring workers to return to the office three days a week.