Google is delaying its return-to-office plans in response to a surge in coronavirus cases, the company announced on Wednesday.
Employees can continue to work from home through October 18, CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a memo that Insider obtained. He also announced that employees who return to offices would need to be vaccinated against the virus.
Google recently reopened some of its offices for employees to return on a voluntary basis, but it said employees would not be required to come back until September. The rise in coronavirus cases driven by the more contagious Delta variant has pushed back that deadline by more than a month.
The company has more than 140,000 full-time employees, according to a recent regulatory filing.
“We are excited that we’ve started to re-open our campuses and encourage Googlers who feel safe coming to sites that have already opened to continue doing so,” Pichai wrote in the memo, which was later published on the company’s blog.
“At the same time, we recognize that many Googlers are seeing spikes in their communities caused by the Delta variant and are concerned about returning to the office. This extension will allow us time to ramp back into work while providing flexibility for those who need it.”
