Amazon delays office reopening until 2022

Amazon becomes the latest tech firm to announce a postponement following a rise in US Covid cases

Amazon has become the latest tech firm to delay reopening its offices, telling its corporate and tech employees they will not return until January 2022.

In an email to employees seen by the Seattle Times, Amazon head of HR Beth Galetti wrote: "As we continue to closely watch conditions related to Covid-19, we are adjusting our guidance for corporate employees in the US and other countries where we had previously anticipated our employees would begin coming in regularly the week of Sept. 7. We are now extending this date to Jan. 3, 2022."

In a statement, Amazon said: "As we continue to closely watch local conditions related to Covid-19, we are adjusting our guidance for corporate employees,"

The new reopening data is later than those announced by Google and Microsoft, both of which postponed bringing employees back to the office to October. But unlike those two companies, and also Facebook, Amazon has not stated that its staff must be vaccinated before they return.

Amazon told employees in March that it was looking to return to an "office-centric culture", but in June it backtracked, telling its corporate employees they could work remotely for two days a week, while four full weeks in a year could be worked outside the office.

The delay in reopening offices has been prompted by a sharp rise in the number of Covid-19 infections as the Delta variant spreads across the US. However, Amazon's warehouse facilities and physical store locations have continued to work in-person throughout the pandemic.

Tech companies are not alone in postponing office reopenings in the US. Financial giants Wells Fargo and BlackRock were also due to bring back remote workforces in September, but this week both announced a delay to planned office returns until October.