A Wait & See Year: Return to the workplace is unclear as more employees push reopening dates to the fall, waiting on vaccine rollouts

While many nationwide employers initially had high hopes of a quick vaccine rollout in early 2021, those hopes were dashed seeing the large scale effort required, the limited number of vaccines and other factors that have slowed down vaccine distribution. Therefore, employers have also halted plans to have millions of workers return back to their jobs in offices for the near future, with many companies refusing to set specific dates. It has become more of a “wait and see” plan with remote work continuing from 2020 for businesses all over the country, including large employers in Silicon Valley, New York, large metropolitan areas and more.

Some employers are pushing return dates back to September. Google had already planned for a delay last year, pushing return to offices in the summer of 2021.

As workers are able to do their jobs remotely, many have moved from expensive apartments and homes close to their jobs to less expensive areas. Two popular destinations include Portland, Oregon and Austin, Texas.

These delays go across industries. For example, Qurate Retail Inc., the parent company to Ballard Designs, QVC and HSN, changed its initial May return to offices to September for all locations in Philadelphia, Atlanta and other metropolitan cities. Others like TechnologyAdvice, a marketing firm in Nashville, Tennessee, have revamped plans from a return to office to a hybrid schedule for either remote or in-office work.

Large companies such as United Parcel Service Inc., based in Atlanta, and financial-services firm Fidelity Investments Inc., based in Boston, have not yet set return dates, allowing many employees to continue to work from home remotely and are using a “wait and see” approach.