Microsoft postpones full US office return indefinitely due to Covid-19 'uncertainty'

CEO Satya Nadella says any company or region that claims to have found an answer to office return is 'short-sighted'

Microsoft postpones full US office return indefinitely due to Covid-19 'uncertainty'

Microsoft has scrapped plans for an October return to the office in the US and has opted against naming a new date due to "uncertainty around COVID-19".

Other large vendors such as Apple, Google and Amazon have all recently announced plans to fully reopen offices in January instead of October in the US and, in some cases, other locations too.

In an interview with CNBC, CEO Satya Nadella said any company or region that claims to have found an answer to when and how to return to the office is "short-sighted" and stressed the need to use data when it comes to making a decision.

"I'm looking forward to the entire world overcoming this challenge because until we do, any particular company, region thinking they've found the answer, I think will just be short-sighted," he said.

"Sometimes we think about this pandemic or the impact of it one region at a time, but it's a connected world. One thing we decided is from now on, we will just use data to really talk about any particular region being open."

Microsoft is one of a number of vendors to also have announced a vaccine mandate, requiring employees to show proof of vaccination in order to return to its US offices.

The tech giant's UK offices are currently open with some restrictions, and last month it said that it is "continuing to review the situation on a local basis in each region/country/state" where it works.

"Given the uncertainty of COVID-19, we've decided against attempting to forecast a new date for a full reopening of our U.S. work sites in favor of opening U.S. work sites as soon as we're able to do so safely based on public health guidance," Jared Spataro, corporate vice-president for modern work, said.

"From there, we'll communicate a 30-day transition period that provides time for employees to prepare while allowing us to continue to be agile and flexible as we look to the data and make choices to protect employee health, safety and well-being."