Apple Joins Microsoft, Google in Delaying Office Return as Omicron Looms

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has joined the fast-expanding list of companies that are either delaying the return to the office or putting it off indefinitely till the world has a tighter grip on Omicron.

CEO Tim Cook sent a memo to staff Wednesday informing them of the company delaying its corporate return-to-office deadline from February 1 to a “date yet to be determined.”

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), the second most valuable company in the world after the iPhone-maker, had scrapped its return-to-work date in September. Others to have also put off the return include Uber (NYSE:UBER), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Ford (NYSE:F).

Apple has previously delayed its office-return plans several times, with some staff rebelling on occasions against the company’s desire to reopen offices. Several companies in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street have faced resistance against reopening as well as vaccination mandates.

Tuesday, a divided U.S. appeals court declined a request by six employees to stop United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) imposing unpaid leave on staff who are granted religious or medical exemption from its vaccination mandate.

In Apple’s case, the latest decision comes the same week the company restored its mask mandate to all U.S. retail stores and temporarily shut three locations because of rising virus cases among employees, according to Bloomberg.

Labelled “of concern” by the World Health Organization, Omicron has been reported in more than 60 countries, including China, and now dominates the Delta variant in many nations. Omicron, which studies show to have a far higher reproduction rate than Delta, has forced several countries to reimpose restrictions on the movement of people and on business activity.

The U.K. reported 78,610 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, the most since the beginning of the pandemic, and a leap of nearly 40% from Tuesday