Thousands of workers could be ordered out of the office and back to their homes as the country faces 'another serious moment' in the pandemic.
Nicola Sturgeon has said anyone who was working from home at the start of the pandemic should start doing so again.
The First Minister is urging employers to ensure staff can work from home until the middle of January when advice will be reviewed.
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The move comes as cases of the Omicron variant appear to be doubling in as little as two to three days and the R number associated with the variant may well be over 2.
Ms Sturgeon said that the social and economic harms caused by previous restrictions mean it's important to minimise further restrictions as much as possible.
However, she warned that measures must be taken to prevent the NHS from becoming overwhelmed.
Speaking at Tuesday's briefing: "We already advise people to work from home where practical. Today, I am asking employers to ensure this is happening.
"To be blunt, if you had staff working from home at this start of the pandemic, please now enable them to do so again.
"We are asking you to do this from now until the middle of January when we will review this advice again.
"I know this is difficult, but I cannot stress enough how much difference we think this could make in helping stem transmission and avoid the need for even more onerous measures. "
The move comes as businesses across the country settled back into offices after the initial working from home guidance was brought into force.
The emergence of the Omicron variant has created a 'significant challenge' for countries across the world.
The First Minister added: "A variant that is more transmissible than Delta, and which has even a limited ability to evade natural or vaccine immunity, has the potential to put very intense additional pressure on the health service.
"And a key point we must understand is this. The sheer weight of numbers of people who could be infected as a result of increased transmissibility and some immune evasion will create this pressure even if the disease the new variant causes in individuals is no more severe than Delta.
"So there is no doubt, unfortunately, that this is another serious moment in the course of the pandemic."
