The new office return date for Google? Try 2022

January is shaping up to be the new September for many major U.S. companies to summon workers back to long-deserted offices, as the COVID-19 Delta variant trips up employers eager to normalize their operations.

On Tuesday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced an extension of the tech giant's voluntary work-from-home policy from October 18 to January 10, 2022.  In an email to employees, Pichai said that while tens of thousands of Googlers are being welcomed back to the company's offices on a voluntary basis, "In many parts of the world the pandemic continues to create uncertainty."