Google will reportedly delay its return-to-office plans for employees. The company had previously asked the US employees to return to the office by January 10, 2022. However, Google has currently put the plan on hold and will now come up with new plans regarding the return to the office, an email sent to employees revealed.

As per CNBC, Google’s security VP, Chris Rackow, informed the US employees that they will wait for the new year to assess whether the employees can return to the office or not. The email revealed that none of the US offices will adapt the hybrid work model that required the employees to return to office by January 10. The hybrid work plan required the employees to return to the office atleast three days a week. However, the company has now delayed the decision amid growing concerns over the new Covid variant found in South Africa. The said variant is speculated to be more fatal than the previous variants and can even bypass the vaccine immunity.

Rackow said that the company has given permission to specific locations to decide when they want their employees to return to the office. He said in the mail that Google’s “Local Incident Response Teams” will also help determine each office’s “risk level,” Rackow said. While the company has pushed the January 10 deadline, it expects employees to continue coming to the office in areas where the conditions allow. His email also noted that the company will grant a 30-day period to transition to the hybrid schedule.

“We will be re-learning our working rhythms together in 2022, which brings new opportunities and new challenges as we experiment with more flexible ways of working,” Rackow said in the email. While the new return-to-office timeline was decided for the US employees primarily, it has been reported that the company has informed the employees in Middle East, Europe and Africa that it would postpone its return to office due to the new Covid variant found.

“We’ll continue to determine when offices reopen and start the hybrid work week based on local conditions, which are dynamic and vary greatly across locations.,” Google spokesperson told the publication.