New variant scrambles US firms' return-to-office plans

NEW YORK • Major United States firms are having to reassess their return-to-office plans and getting tough on vaccine or mask requirements as the Omicron Covid-19 variant looks set to extend pandemic-induced work-from-home culture.

A resumption of pre-virus workplace norms was only partially moving forward in the US when the fast-spreading variant arrived.

Legal challenges have made the future of US President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate for companies with more than 100 workers uncertain, and firms have been pursuing their own requirements.

Tech giant Google has been notably uncompromising in warning employees of lost pay or even dismissal if they do not report their vaccination status by a certain date, according to an internal document viewed by CNBC.

"We firmly believe that our vaccination requirements are one of the most important ways we can keep our workforce safe and keep our services running," Google said.

The company has also postponed indefinitely the return to the office of its engineers and developers, originally scheduled for next month.

Facebook parent Meta was letting its employees choose between home and office work.

Amazon, which had suggested a return of its face-to-face office workers at least three days a week early next year, was expected to make further announcements next month. Warehouse employees and drivers are not affected by these arrangements, it said.

Apple has reinstated the mandatory wearing of masks in all its US stores after making it optional last month at 100 points of sale. The iPhone maker temporarily closed stores last week in Florida and Maryland.

Wall Street has also been forced to adjust to the rising number of Covid-19 cases in New York City and other financial centres.

As of last Tuesday, JPMorgan was restricting access to nine of its buildings in Manhattan to vaccinated people, who are not required to wear masks once inside.

"With (employee vaccination) rates well above 90 per cent, it seems unfair to require our vaccinated employees to wear masks all day at their desks," the bank said in an internal memo. Unvaccinated employees must work from home.

Other big names such as Citigroup and Morgan Stanley were encouraging their employees to work from home as much as possible over the next few weeks.

In the retail sector, the Kroger supermarket chain will suspend Covid-19 special sick leave for unvaccinated employees, according to several US media reports.

Unjabbed workers will also have to pay a US$50 (S$68) premium starting next month to remain on the company's health insurance.

According to a study late last month by insurance broker Willis Towers Watson, 57 per cent of US employers already require their staff to be vaccinated, or are mulling over making it mandatory.

"Employers can encourage vaccinations and boosters with scheduling flexibility and time off, promote regular testing, stipulate mask wearing on-site to ensure employee health and safety," noted Mr Jeff Levin-Scherz of Willis Towers Watson.

Return-to-office was showing signs of momentum the week that Omicron was first detected in the US. As at Dec 1, office occupancy in major American cities hit 40 per cent, according to a weekly barometer conducted by security systems specialist Kastle.

Though that was a pandemic period high, it was dwarfed by the 95 per cent rate in March last year, before lockdowns took effect.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE