American Express again delayed its plans for returning U.S. workers to the office, citing the spread of the highly contagious delta variant in setting a new target of Jan. 24 at the earliest.
The credit card giant had
“It is not prudent nor practical to pursue our hybrid return to the office at this time,” Chief Executive Stephen Squeri said Thursday in a memo to staff seen by Bloomberg News. In addition to the delta variant, Squeri cited updated guidance from the medical community and “colleague concerns.”
Financial firms have been adjusting plans to bring staff back to offices around the country as cases and hospitalizations continue to rise. American Express said its offices in the U.S. will remain open for workers who want to come in or who cant effectively work from home. The New York-based company has about 22,700 employees in the U.S.
The card company will also rework its plans for implementing a hybrid style of working. Originally, it had expected to invite all colleagues back on a set schedule before transitioning to allow staff more remote work options in the future.
“Given the ongoing uncertainty of the current situation and the further delay in our return, we want to provide colleagues with more certainty about how and where they will work in the future,” Squeri said in a separate memo. “Therefore, we have decided that colleagues will be able to request more flexibility before our return versus having everyone start with a certain schedule and then allow for greater flexibility a few months later.”
