What The Delta Variant Means for Work

The Delta variant of Coronavirus continues to spread throughout the world and in the United States, and companies are questioning their decision about returning to normal. Once restrictions for Coronavirus were lifted, including mask mandates and social distancing, companies had a one-track mind to return to the office. Now that variant is spreading faster than the original virus, and hospitalizations are beginning to rise, companies will rethink their return plan. 

The most misleading part about the pandemic has been about the return to normalcy. Once mandates were lifting, companies were seeing this as a sign to return to the office. The CDC said vaccinated individuals were safe from the virus, but the Delta variant is proving otherwise. 

Large companies, like Apple, had backlash from their workers about the early return to the office and wrote a letter refuting the hybrid work mandate in September. Now that the virus is spreading and vaccinated individuals are contracting the virus, Apple has pushed back the return to the office until January 2022. 

Apple will monitor the situation month by month and give a minimum of one month’s notice before returning to the office. Other companies that are pushing back their return date are other large tech companies like Facebook and Google. 

Google, Uber, and Wells Fargo have pushed back their return date only to October, while Facebook and Lyft will follow Apple’s return date in the new year. Companies are lost on how to handle the pandemic and understand when it is appropriate to return on-site. These companies are all looking at one another about how to handle this situation. 

Ideally, employees overall would prefer to stay remote permanently. Here at Clutch, we see most of our talent refuse interviews and offers because the opportunity requires individuals to report on site.

Overall, to keep everyone safe and happy about work benefits and policies, we recommend that you offer remote work at your company. Not only is it better in terms of production, but employees are happier than ever.