It is unclear how much the Omicron variant of COVID will affect everyday life, if at all, but Google is preparing anyway. The company announced on Thursday that employees will not be expected to return to the office until after the initial Jan. 10, 2022, date they set earlier this year.

Company guidance obtained by CNBC, which did not specifically mention Omicron, stated that a return to the workplace would certainly not be earlier than Jan. 10 of next year and also depended on if there is an outbreak of COVID-19 in certain areas.

The 2022 office return date was mentioned in August and proposed a three-day workweek that would end the company's previous work from home policy. Now, the policy will remain until after Jan. 10, 2022, or until further notice.

“Where conditions allow...reconnect with colleagues in person and start regaining the muscle memory of being in the office more regularly...We will be re-learning our working rhythms together in 2022, which brings new opportunities and new challenges as we experiment with more flexible ways of working,” an email relaying the guidance reads.

Many companies have opted for hybrid work models during the COVID-19 pandemic. Amid the vaccine rollout, some opted for a full-time back-in-office strategy with COVID-19 contingency plans or a hybrid model of working. With the rise of the Omicron variant, it is unclear how other companies will respond, but Google’s move could signal a wave of delays in returning to full-time, in-office work.

Google's memo came out around the same time President Biden announced that there would be no federal lockdowns or restrictions in response to the Omicron variant. So far, there are at least five cases of the variant in the U.S.

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