WORLD
Faced with the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, large American companies are being forced to strengthen their anti-COVID-19 arsenal and delay the return to work in person.
Among the toughest groups is Google, which notified its employees earlier this month that it would not pay them or that they could even be made redundant if they did not declare their vaccination status beyond a certain date, according to Sunday, December 26. 2021 THE REASON. Mundo b8 EL FINANCIERO with an internal document consulted by CNBC.
“We are committed to doing everything in our power to help our employees get vaccinated,” he added.
The search giant has also indefinitely postponed the return to the office of its engineers and developers, initially scheduled for January.
For its part, Meta (Facebook’s parent company) offers its employees the possibility of choosing the workplace that best meets their needs.
Amazon, which had suggested resuming face-to-face work at least three days a week since early 2022, is expected to make new announcements in January, a company spokesperson told AFP.
Warehouse workers and vehicle drivers will not be affected.
Apple has, in turn, reinstated the compulsory use of the mask in all its stores in the United States after making it optional in November in a hundred points of sale.
It also temporarily closed stores in Florida and Maryland this week, as well as in the Canadian province of Ontario.
FINANCE. Wall Street intends, for its part, to adapt to the increase in infections. In recent days, JPMorgan has restricted access to nine of its buildings in Manhattan to those vaccinated, who are not required to wear masks indoors.
“We took this measure because the vaccination rates are very high among our employees,” said the bank in an internal note seen by AFP.
Unvaccinated employees must work from home. Other big names in American finance, such as Citigroup or Morgan Stanley, are encouraging their employees to work from home as much as possible in the coming weeks.
On the supermarket side, measures are also being taken to deal with the risk of a wave of customers eager to fill their cupboards in the face of possible new restrictions.
The Kroger channel, for example, will suspend the payment of special leave by COVID to unvaccinated employees, said several American media. Those who haven’t been vaccinated will also have to pay a $ 50 premium starting in January to stay on the company’s health insurance.
TELEWORK. US President Joe Biden is trying to impose compulsory vaccination in companies with more than 100 employees, but this measure is the subject of a legal battle.
A federal court reinstated the presidential decree the week before, which had been suspended by another court.
According to a study conducted at the end of November by the insurance broker Willis Towers Watson, 57% of American employers already require the vaccination of their employees or are considering making it compulsory.
“Employers can encourage vaccination and booster doses by adjusting the hours and days off, encouraging frequent screening and requiring the wearing of a mask in the workplace to ensure health and safety.” said Jeff Levin-Scherz of Willis Towers Watson.
As of December 8, office occupancy rates in major cities were barely 40 percent, according to a weekly measurement by security systems specialist Kastle based on data from 10 urban areas across the country.
In March 2020, it was around 95%, before the first containment measures.
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