The keynote session of the I/O conference was held at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California on May 7, 2019.
CNBC has seen an email sent to employees Thursday that says that the return of offices will not happen on January 10.
Chris Rackow, the company's security VP, told employees in an email that the company will wait until the new year to assess when U.S. offices can return to a stable, long-term working environment. The hybrid working mandate will not be adopted in the U.S. locations, according to his email.
The new guidance comes after several delays and as most of the company's employees were expected to return to physical offices three days a week. A small but growing portion of the company's employees fight against the company's vaccine mandate.
The new Covid-19 variant Omicron, which has some 50 mutations, could prove to be more transmissible and evade protection from vaccines, according to health officials in the U.S. and around the world.
According to an email from Rackow, specific locations will be allowed to make timelines for returning local workers. Each office's risk level will be determined by the "local incident response teams" of the internet giant.
The company still encourages employees to come in where conditions allow, to get back in touch with colleagues, and to start regaining the muscle memory of being in the office more regularly. The note said that the company will give all full-time employees a 30-day period to adjust to the new routines.
We will be re- learning our working rhythms together in 2022, which will bring new opportunities and new challenges as we experiment with more flexible ways of working.
He said that the company has opened 90% of its U.S. offices and that 40% of U.S. Googlers came in recently.
According to a report, the new Covid-19 variant and travel restrictions have caused a delay in the return-to-office plan for employees in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
A request for comment was not immediately responded to.
