On March 10, 2020, the Amazon headquarters was virtually empty in downtown Seattle, Washington. Amazon advised all its employees in Seattle to work remotely to combat the coronavirus epidemic. This left much of downtown virtually empty.Amazon will delay a return to work for corporate employees until the beginning of next year. This is the latest tech company to do this amid an increase in Covid-19 cases, which are highly contagious.CNBC has been informed by the company that corporate employees in the U.S. will be returning to work starting January 3, 2022. Amazon previously stated that it expected most employees to return to work by the week of September 7, 2018.GeekWire reported previously on Amazon's revised return-to-work guidelines.Other technology companies, including Google, Facebook and Apple, have modified their return-to work plans in the wake of an increase in Covid-19 cases.Amazon will not require employees returning to work to get vaccinated, unlike Facebook and Google. After last week's earnings report, Amazon's CFO Brian Olsavsky confirmed that this was true in a conference call with reporters.Amazon stated that employees will be required to wear masks at work unless they can show proof of vaccination.In June, Amazon reversed its guidelines regarding remote work. According to the company, employees are expected to work in the office at least three days per week. However, they can also work remotely up to two days per week. This was a major change from March's guidance which stated that it wanted to "return back to an office-centric culture" as its baseline.
