Amazon has become the latest corporation to push back its return
to the office in the US as a result of the rise of the delta variant in the
country.
The
decision has led one travel management company boss to say that it represents a
“big concern to the business travel industry”.
In a memo circulated to employees this week, Amazon said
that it was pushing back the timeline of the return to office for US corporate
employees from 7 September to 3 January 2022.
The company added that return dates for employees elsewhere would "vary globally in accordance with local conditions".
Marcus Eklund, global managing
director for FCM, said: "News
that Amazon, one of the world’s largest companies, has announced it will delay
its return-to-office plans until January 2022 is a big concern to the business
travel industry, not just across the pond but here in the UK as well. The move
highlights the current unpredictability we’re hearing around hybrid v
office-based working and its likely other large businesses, which were planning
to reopen offices fully by early autumn, could follow suit."
However Eklund says the delay is unlikely to
stop a rise in employees meeting up.
He said, "We predict that there will
still be a significant increase in small in-person meetings over the next few
months, with a team meeting up for one to two days twice a month to collaborate
and socialise. The difference now is that it does not need to be in office, it
could be any point which is convenient for the collective group. This trend
will naturally be domestic first but expected to continue with cross border
travel and meetings, which will both have a positive impact on business travel.”
Amazon is not the first company to delay the transition from
working from home.
Apple recently announced
it was delaying its planned return to the office from September to October at
the earliest.
Google
has also delayed its planned return from September to October.
Twitter, meanwhile, has closed offices that it only reopened in July
with a reduced 50 per cent capacity but only for vaccinated employees. It says it
will “pause future office re-openings”
In
mid-July, the company’s New York and San Francisco offices were re-opened at a
reduced 50% capacity for vaccinated employees who wished to return. The
company’s CEO Jack Dorsey said in 2020 that employees could choose to work at
home forever if they wished.
Eklund said that the return to office is an obstacle
but that other challenges remain.
“We fundamentally believe that the biggest
obstruction for business travel is still the current inefficiency of travel,
with more friction for the traveller (information gathering, checks and
verifications) and the additional costs introduced during the pandemic, e.g
testing. We need practical solutions to overcome these blockers to support
businesses across the world."