How big tech companies are responding to increasing cases of delta variants

A handful of the country’s most influential tech companies are responding to the increase in Covid-19 cases by delaying plans to return to the office, forcing employees to get vaccinated and shutting down offices entirely.

A Twitter spokesperson told CNBC Make It that “after careful consideration of updated CDC guidelines, and in light of current conditions, Twitter has made the decision to close our open offices in New York and San Francisco as well as to suspend future reopening of offices., Effective immediately. “

In mid-July, the company’s New York and San Francisco offices were reopened at a 50% reduced capacity for vaccinated employees who wanted to return. Twitter grabbed the headlines in May 2020 when CEO Jack Dorsey said employees could work from home “forever” if they wanted.

The Twitter spokesperson added that the company “will continue to assess the reopening of additional offices based on our decision-making framework which takes into account various factors, including office infection and vaccination rates. ‘opening our offices is our decision, when and if our employees return, it will be theirs. “

The measures taken by the companies follow a number of recent announcements by political leaders. President Joe Biden is expected to announce Thursday that all federal employees will need to be vaccinated or undergo strict Covid-19 tests. And on Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated their recommendations that everyone, including fully vaccinated people, wear a mask in indoor public places in areas with “heavy and high transmission” of Covid- 19.

Twitter is among the latest to announce its pandemic response plans amid growing concern over the latest increase in cases from the highly transmissible delta variant. Some companies are already pushing their plans to next year – Lyft and software company Asana will postpone their return dates to February 2022.

Apple led the pack when it announced last week that it was delaying plans to return to the office for at least a month until October. CEO Tim Cook’s original return plan was criticized by employees demanding that workers be forced to return to offices on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. The company also updated its recommendation that workers and customers wear masks inside retail stores, regardless of immunization status.

Elsewhere in Silicon Valley, Facebook announced Wednesday that employees returning to any U.S. campus will need to be fully immunized. Vice President of Personnel Lori Goler said the policy will be implemented based on local conditions and regulations and will include a process for those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or other reasons.

Facebook “will be evaluating our approach in other regions as the situation evolves,” Goler said in a statement. The company previously announced in June that it planned to open most of its offices in the United States to 50% capacity by early September, with a view to a full reopening in October. “They are monitoring the situation closely,” a spokesperson told CNBC Make It.

Workers whose work requires them to be on-site are advised to report to the office half the time for the foreseeable future. Anyone at all levels of the business can apply to work remotely full time after the pandemic.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai also told employees on Wednesday that they would delay returning from offices by a month until October, and returning employees will be required to show proof of vaccination from the United States in the coming weeks. The company previously planned to get workers back to the office on September 1 at least three days a week.

“We are delighted to have started to reopen our campuses and encourage Googlers who feel safe to come to sites already open to continue to do so,” Pichai said in her email. “At the same time, we recognize that many Googlers are seeing spikes in their communities caused by the Delta variant and are concerned about returning to the office.”

Google will monitor Covid-19 data and give employees at least 30 days’ notice before moving on to its full return plans. Employees in “special circumstances” will be able to request to work remotely for the remainder of the year.

Many of the same companies announcing new policies to avoid a premature return have led the peloton to send workers home at the start of the pandemic and extend remote working until 2021.

Dr Perry Halkitis, dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health, supports the decision of major employers to delay their plans to return to the office and demand that employees get vaccinated, noting that they are “big influencers who recognize the importance of being agile. “

“The [Covid] today’s metrics aren’t great, ”he says. “If you and I had this conversation five or six weeks ago, I would say, ‘sure, we’ll all be back to work.’ But I’m starting to have doubts about that given the emergence of the Delta, unless there is a drastic change in vaccination rates in the country. “

Covid cases are on the rise again in all 50 states and vaccination rates have stabilized. In the United States, 69.3% of adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Halkitis also studied the HIV epidemic in the 1980s and draws parallels on how the public should respond to developments to inform or renew security measures. “Every day is a new day of information,” he says. “You have to be nimble. If that means we’re going to work from home, we’re going to work from home.”

Leading companies in their pandemic security plans must consider not only the number of Covid-19 cases in their region, but also the impact of updates on their employment brand image and consumers, said George Penn, vice president of HR practices at corporate research firm Gartner.

Employers need to assess whether incremental policy changes are worth short-term disruption to avoid what they see as “long-term destruction,” as a breach of trust between employees and consumers.

“One thing to recognize about being a trailblazer is that if you make these decisions based on high quality data, they can recognize that by doing this they are actually improving their reputation in the market,” Penn said. .

To verify:

Can your employer force you to be vaccinated against Covid? Here’s what the experts say

Employers Rethink Return to Office Amid Spread of Delta Variants and CDC Interior Masking Guidelines

What to do if you or someone you know is fully vaccinated but still tests positive for Covid

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