With the increase in the number of Covid cases, especially the Delta variant, the focus is back on having a cautious approach. Considering this, Microsoft has decided to indefinitely postpone its plan to reopen offices in the United States. The tech giant said that it would delay the reopening of its headquarters at several locations. The company had earlier announced October 4 as the target for starting work from the office. But this time, it has not fixed any date for reopening of offices. The decision will affect over 103,000 employees of the company in the United States.
This shows how cautiously companies are making decisions like calling employees back to the office. They are apparently not willing to take any chance considering the rise in death and hospitalization because of Covid-19 cases. There are some companies that have already postponed their plans to open offices. Earlier in August, Amazon said that corporate workers in the United States and some other locations will start coming to office in January 2022. Around the same time, Microsoft said that it is also pushing back its reopening plan to October from initially planned September.
Jared Spataro, a Microsoft corporate vice president, said that the decision has been taking keeping in mind the uncertainty of Covid-19. “There is huge uncertainty when we talk about Covid-19. This is why we are not announcing future dates. We will monitor the situation and make the decision at an appropriate time,” he said. The company said that it would give a month-long transition period once the date to reopen is decided. There are several companies that have now postponed their decisions of reopening offices till 2022. Facebook and Google have already announced this. These companies have allowed their employees to work from remote locations. With the sudden surge in the number of coronavirus cases, companies are in no mood to take any risk.
