In case it wasn’t already clear, the tech industry’s Great COVID-19 Remote Work Experiment is destined to last a full two years, and then some.
That’s one of the takeaways from a decision by Meta to delay its full return to the office until March 28. In the past, pre-Omicron, the Facebook and Oculus parent company had optimistically targeted today, Jan. 11, for the milestone.
“We’re focused on making sure our employees continue to have choices about where they work given the current COVID-19 landscape,” said Janelle Gale, Meta vice president of human resources, in a statement. “We understand that the continued uncertainty makes this a difficult time to make decisions about where to work, so we’re giving more time to choose what works best for them.”
Once employees do return to the office, Meta will require them to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with booster shots. The company is giving employees until March 14 to decide if they will return, request full-time remote work, or work from home temporarily. Meta is also offering support and allowances for personal time off as needed.
Companies such as Microsoft have given up on projecting a timeline entirely, saying they will give employees time to prepare once the situation is clear. Amazon confirmed recently that it’s proceeding with its plan, announced in October, to leave the return-to-work decisions to individual team leaders. Decisions are set to be made this month.
Meta, based in Menlo Park, Calif., has more than 7,000 employees in the Seattle region, and is expanding steadily on both sides of Lake Washington.
See our recent rundown tracking back-to-office plans for a wide variety of tech companies with headquarters and major offices in the Seattle region
