Facebook Has Delayed Office Returns Until This Time

Social media giant Facebook, the parent of Meta Platforms, has announced this week that it has delayed its return to office until March 28th.

With the company’s headquarters located in Menlo Park, Calif, originally the date had been for January 31st.

If employees want to work remotely after the March date, they will need to request a deferral from Meta by mid-March, the company said. Facebook added that the deferrals will last between three and five months.

The company also said it is requiring Covid-19 boosters for its employees against the surging omicron variant.

The variant of Covid-19 has forced several of Meta’s neighbors in Silicon Valley to push back their return-to-work plans. It was last month that tech giant Apple told its employees that it did not have a firm date to be back in the office.

Back in December, Google parent Alphabet pushed back its Jan 10. return date indefinitely until a “stable, long-term working environment” could be assured.

Meta is one of the first big companies to tell its employees that proof of a booster shot will be required to work in the office.

Meta also said on Monday that the pushback of the return-to-office date gives employees more flexibility regarding their work arrangements amid the lingering effects of the pandemic.

“We’re focused on making sure our employees continue to have choices about where they work given the current Covid-19 landscape,” Janelle Gale, Meta’s vice president of human resources, said in a statement.

Gale added, “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.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.