Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Unlike a lot of employers, mine has been erring on the side of caution during the whole pandemic. We were all strictly working from home for over a year, but slowly started returning to the office on a limited schedule (every other day) for the past six months or so. It's a pain in the ass, but it's fair to everyone on my team, because prior to that, only one of us was actively handling those tasks that required hands-on intervention. (To be honest, I'm amazed he came through it COVID-free considering some of our remote sites turned into COVID hotspots.)
About two months ago—prior to Omicron—since infection levels were going down, they decided to implement Phase 2B: three days in the office, 2 at home, starting this month. At the time my team successfully argued to keep this schedule even after everyone else returned full time since we'd more than proven we were able to maintain the same level of customer service when working from home a couple days a week as we were when we were in the office full time before COVID. I didn't relish the thought of being back three days a week, but it is what it is.
This afternoon we got an email that announced 2B has been postponed…again. This time until June (at least).
All I can say is, "RA-men!"
My small gubm'nt agency keeps moving the goal posts out as well. Executives were supposed to be 'on campus' 2-3 days a week starting this week, and that got delayed again because of omicron. I really wish the powers that be would stop focusing on "getting back to normal", as if we'll ever return to pre-pandemic work patterns, focus on what's working now, and then plan for adapting once we have some better handle on what this disease (and future diseases) will force on us long term.