Corporate America is starting to allow workers to go maskless and ordering them back to the office as states and cities relax COVID-19 rules, signaling that the era of delayed re-openings is coming to an end and a tough period of negotiation over remote and “hybrid” work is starting.
Microsoft said it plans to reopen its offices in Washington state and California on Feb. 28, and Ford is bringing corporate employees back into the office by April.
Some companies, like Wells Fargo, plan to use a hybrid model in which most employees report to the office three days a week, starting March 14.
The migration back to the office comes two years after the start of the pandemic and a number of stutter steps, with companies outlining reopening plans, only to delay them because of new variants and pandemic surges.
The gradual return to private-sector offices coincides with a steady change in thinking at the government level. State leaders say the prevalence of vaccines, boosters and treatments means it is time to live with the virus, even as the Biden administration takes a more cautious approach.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams this week told firms to stop waffling and bring workers back into the office. He said the city’s “financial ecosystem” depends on foot traffic.
“The best thing we can do to deal with COVID is get back to work,” Mr. Adams told reporters after a midweek meeting with CEOs. “We can’t send mixed messages, we can’t keep kicking the can down the road. It’s time.”
Yet it will be difficult for companies to return to business as usual.
Despite the rush to relax rules, COVID-19 cases remain higher than at most points in the pandemic. And surveys suggest workers have grown accustomed to working from home, if their type of work can accommodate it.
A Pew Research Center survey released this week found that among workers who can do their jobs remotely, about six in 10 are staying home all or most of the time.
Among those who could report to a worksite, a majority (61%) say they are choosing to stay home, while the rest say their office remains closed. And 60% of those working remotely say they’d like to continue working from home once the pandemic is over, up from 54% in 2020.
“Honestly the big challenge is workers don’t want to go back,” said Art Caplan, director of the division of medical ethics at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine.
Workers hate commutes and have embraced their new rhythms, he said.
And while Mr. Adams is begging for a return, it is “not gonna happen,” Mr. Caplan said. “That is an unexpected consequence of COVID.”
Companies like Wells Fargo are taking a split approach as workers report for part of the week.
Employees will no longer have assigned desks and, instead, they will populate “neighborhoods” of offices and desks with rotating residents, depending on who is in the office that day, according to National Public Radio.
Microsoft, which cited high vaccination rates in the King County area that includes Seattle, said starting Feb. 28, “employees will have 30 days to make adjustments to their routines and adopt the working preferences they’ve agreed upon with their managers.”
Some large companies are easing COVID-19 rules for persons who are on-site already.
Two retail behemoths, Amazon and Walmart, told vaccinated workers last week they will not have to wear masks unless mandated by local rules.
Tyson Foods, a major meat processor, is also easing masks rules for vaccinated workers in places that allow it or where U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations do not demand face coverings.
JP Morgan followed New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s decision to lift a state mask mandate, telling employees that “masks are now completely voluntary anywhere in our U.S. buildings for employees who are fully vaccinated unless there are more stringent local restrictions in place.”
The New York Stock Exchange also made masks voluntary for fully vaccinated workers on the trading floor.
The National Retail Federation said most of its member companies are requiring workers to wear masks, while letting local rules dictate whether face coverings are required for customers, according to Ed Egee, vice president of government relations and workforce development.
He said retailers are waiting for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to update its mask guidance. Right now, the CDC says people should cover their faces in public indoor spaces in counties with high or substantial transmission — basically the whole country.
The CDC signaled it will issue an update in the coming week as it finds itself trailing Democrat-run states in a rush to relax rules now.
“That tension there, the daylight between the two positions, is troubling for our members,” Mr. Egee told The Washington Times. “We have not taken a position, we have not lobbied CDC on what they should do. We certainly hope it’s a science-driven analysis.”
