Apple Follows Facebook, Delays Return To Office Until 2022 Amid Surge In Cases Of Delta Variant Of COVID-19

Apple has decided to delay the decision that made it mandatory for employees to return to offices. The tech giant said that the expected return to office is likely to be delayed until at least January 2022. The decision has been taken amid concerns over rising in the number of Delta variants of COVID-19. The company has sent a memo to employees in which it stated that employees would be informed at least one month in advance about the timeline by when they are expected to return to their offices. The delay comes a month after the company said that employees are expected to report back in offices in October. The October deadline was fixed after the company failed to implement its decision to call back employees to offices in the month of September.

Facebook too has announced that it is not calling employees back to offices until January 2022. The social media giant had earlier said that it would open offices with 50 percent capacity. The offices of several big companies remain vacant for the past year. Employees of many companies are working remotely as they were forced to follow the norms of social distancing in order to curb the spread of COVID-19. But some of them started asking employees to return to offices after cases started to dip in late spring and early summer.

Apple employees have been pressing for the delay. They said that there should be no such decision should be made which would be applicable to one and all. But the company had then said that it believes in-person collaboration is very crucial for smooth functioning. The surge in COVID-19 cases, especially the Delta Variant, has forced these companies to reconsider their decision. Those who have started from working from offices are again temporarily closing their offices. Recently, IBM informed its employees about the decision to close offices in New York amid rising COVID-19 cases.