Amazon offers staff option to work from home until June 2021
Amazon has become the latest tech giant to offer remote working to its staff until next summer.
The world's largest online retailer, which has excelled through the pandemic, has told employees whose work can be done from home that they can work remotely until June.
Amazon’s new guidance represents a six-month extension to its original return date of January, which was issued earlier in the year.
The development comes less than three weeks after Amazon said more than 19,000 of its US frontline workers had tested positive for the coronavirus.
The company's largely blue-collar warehouse employees have continued working at its facilities around the world, prompting concerns about safety.
"We have invested significant funds and resources to keep those who choose to come to the office safe through physical distancing, deep cleaning, temperature checks, and by providing face coverings and hand sanitizer," an Amazon spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
The decision to allow staff to continue working from home is in line with a range of similar decisions made by tech firms.
In May, Twitter declared that it would allow its workers to continue working remotely for good if they wished to do so.
Microsoft has committed to allowing its employees to work remotely for half of their working week, while Facebook said it would allow workers to stay home until July of next year. Google, meanwhile, has extended its remote working policy until June.
