McDonald’s is delaying return to work for office workers, will require vaccination

McDonald’s told its employees on Wednesday it was delaying reopening its offices for more than a month and demanding that staff be fully vaccinated.

The fast food giant joins a number of other employers, including Coca-Cola and Amazon, in delaying their return to the office or demanding that their employees be fully vaccinated, as concerns about the highly contagious delta variant grow . Earlier on Wednesday, the New York Stock Exchange announced that it would require traders to be fully vaccinated by September 13 to gain entry to the trading floor. Although it is possible for vaccinated people to contract Covid-19, cases of breakthrough are extremely rare and the main risk is in unvaccinated populations.

McDonald’s is pushing back its September 7 reopening date to October 11 to allow its U.S. employees to get vaccinated and boost their immunity. These workers will need to be fully vaccinated by September 27. They will be able to request an exemption for medical or religious reasons.

“From City Hall, many of you have told us that you would feel more comfortable returning to the office if you were more confident that your colleagues were vaccinated,” said Heidi Capozzi, Global Head of Human Resources at McDonald’s, in an internal memo obtained by CNBC. . “State and local governments are also asking us to require vaccinations for company employees, because getting more of the population vaccinated reduces our own chances of getting infected and helps protect the community.”

However, like Walmart, the vaccination mandate only applies to McDonald’s office workers, not employees of company-operated restaurants or franchisees. Restaurants and retailers are struggling to find enough workers willing to fill their locations, and employers fear that vaccination warrants may alienate potential candidates or result in the departure of some existing workers.

Masks are mandatory in McDonald’s offices at this time, regardless of immunization status.

“Ultimately, by requiring vaccinations for staff based in the United States, we hope to be able to make masks optional in the future,” Capozzi said.

The company recently changed its guidelines for American restaurants to require all customers and employees of restaurants in countries with high transmission rates to wear masks.