As Covid-19 cases resurface, Google's return to the office is pushed back

   After all, it appears that Big Tech employees will not be returning to a real workplace this year. Google has pushed out the formal return date from Oct. 18 to Jan. 10, 2022, after carefully documenting the procedures it would take to assist ease staff back into the office.

    Because there has been such a discrepancy in vaccinated populations and covid-19 instances around the world, Google will leave it up to the different offices and personnel in each region to decide whether to return to work. Employees who were compelled to return to work would be given at least a 30-day notice, according to Google CEO Sundar Pichai. It's comparable to Google's strategy for the previous re-opening in October, which was already rather flexible. Google has already stated that some employees will be able to apply for full-time remote employment.

   Google isn't the only tech behemoth delaying the return to the traditional workplace. Following complaints that it was asking staff to return too soon, Apple moved delayed its return date from October to January 2022. Facebook, Amazon, and Lyft have all stated that they will resume operations in January 2022. Before returning to in-person work, Google and Facebook will require employees to be vaccinated, while Apple CEO Tim Cook said the business would assess whether forced vaccinations were “the correct answer.”

   In any event, Silicon Valley only knows what the rest of us do: we're still in the midst of a raging pandemic that's on the verge of becoming endemic, with official forecasts forecasting more cases to follow. And, unless the use of masks and vaccines skyrockets in the next weeks, remote tech workers could expect another delay in returning to work.