RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Companies across the Triangle are on the horns of a dilemma: What to do about unvaccinated workers and whether to push ahead with return-to-office policies. As many are still debating what to do, a big name – Google – is reacting to the COVID “D” variant surge with a vaccine requirement. So, too, is Facebook. And Apple is reportedly requiring vaccinations.

Google, which recently announced an engineering hub in Durham for which the company has been hiring, is requiring vaccinations and pushing back its official return-to-work date from early September to mid-October, according to reporting from the New York Times.

The company some 144,000 people globally.

“We recognize that many Googlers are seeing spikes in their communities caused by the Delta variant and are concerned about returning to the office,” wrote Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, to Google employees, according to the New York Times.  “This extension will allow us time to ramp back into work while providing flexibility for those who need it.”

“Getting vaccinated is one of the most important ways to keep ourselves and our communities healthy in the months ahead,” Pichaiadded.

According to the Times, Pichai noted that the tech giant’s vaccine mandate would apply to U.S. office locations “in the coming weeks” and to other regions “in the coming months.”

Managers face big challenges in handling vaccinated, unvaccinated workers

At Facebook, all employees must get vaccinated before coming back to the office, the company announced Wednesday.

“As our offices reopen, we will be requiring anyone coming to work at any of our US campuses to be vaccinated,” Lori Goler, Facebook’s VP of people said in a statement. “We will have a process for those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or other reasons and will be evaluating our approach in other regions as the situation evolves,” she added.

Apple also recently pushed back plans to return employees to in-person work in September, after employees brought concerns. The company has not yet decided, but appears to be considering, whether to require vaccination, according to reporting from Macrumors and CNBC.

Companies in Silicon Valley, New York, and many other financial centers, are also struggling with policies and procedures to bring workers back to in-person offices, Bloomberg reported last month.

Those conversations are also occurring in the Triangle and throughout North Carolina.  Companies are re-evaluating workplace policies as employers and employees seek information and clarity about how the COVID-19 delta variant might impact health and safety in the workplace.

List of companies requiring vaccinations is growing, from Google to Twitter

“Employee health and safety remains a top priority at Lenovo,” said David Hamilton, a spokesperson for Lenovo US.  “We are taking the latest recommendations and guidance from the CDC into consideration as we continue to develop our plans to return to the office.”

IBM, whose CEO Arvind Krishna said in April that the vast majority of workers wouldn’t return full-time to in-person offices, updated policies in June to note that vaccinated workers could return to work, without wearing masks, in September.  The company has not confirmed to WRAL TechWire whether they will modify that latest plan.

IBM-owned Red Hat, which is headquartered in Raleigh, has not yet responded to an inquiry from WRAL TechWire about its plans.

Vast majority of IBM workers won’t return to offices full time, says Big Blue’s CEO

At Fidelity, the company is following CDC recommendations.

“We have 11 regional sites around the country, and about 200 investor centers,” said Stephen Austin, a spokesperson for Fidelity Investments, which announced plans in May to hire 500 additional employees in RTP.  “That’s a lot of offices.”

Fidelity has a voluntary re-entry program for workers to return to in-person office work, which will also apply to the facility in the Triangle.  “We’re very focused on the CDC guidelines, based on the available data and science,” he said.

Energy firm Dominion, meanwhile, is encouraging workers to get vaccinated.

“With vaccines now being widely available, we’re all strongly encouraged to get vaccinated,” said Persida Montanez, a spokesperson for Dominion Energy. “Not mandatory at this time.”

Dominion does have a requirement that unvaccinated employees to wear masks in the work environment at all times.

(CNN contributed to this report.)