Google postpones return to work

Google is postponing a return to the office for most workers until mid-October.

It’s rolling out a policy that will eventually require everyone to be vaccinated once its sprawling campuses are fully reopened in an attempt to fight the spreading delta variant.

In a Wednesday email sent to Google’s more than 130,000 employees, CEO Sundar Pichai said the company is aiming to have most of its workforce back to its offices beginning Oct. 18 instead of its previous target date of Sept. 1. Exceptions for vaccines will be made for medical and other “protected” reasons, Pichai wrote.

The requirement will be first imposed at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., and other U.S. offices before being extended to the more than 40 other countries where the Google operates.

The decision to extend its remote work follows a similar move by another Apple, which recently moved its return-to-office plans from September to October.