Ómicron ruins plans to return to US office

When it seemed that American companies were on their way to normal, a new wave of uncertainty related to COVID began to change business plans from Wall Street to Silicon Valley.

Christmas parties in Manhattan are being canceled and banks grapple with new outbreaks as the omicron variant spreads.

Meanwhile, Citigroup Inc. told employees in the New York City metropolitan area to work from home during vacations if possible, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. switched its big San Francisco health conference to an online version after major biotech companies pulled out of the event.

Apple Inc. Y Google from Alphabet Inc. they indefinitely postponed their dates back to the office.

The latest resurgence of the virus is putting bosses between a rock and a hard place as they have to decide between employee safety and constantly changing plans for office work, business trips, and social gatherings after nearly two years of chaos due to COVID.

At the same time, many Americans have largely resumed normal activities in their personal lives, from dining out to attending large events, creating a mismatch between what happens at work and at home.

For an example of the chaotic situation, look no further than Wall Street, where bank executives have been eager to restock office towers with workers. But New York is currently dealing with an increase in virus cases, with models from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimating that the omicron variant could account for 13% of infections of the virus. COVID-19 in the area and in New Jersey.

In the past week, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. He told bankers they would return to remote work after the company saw a spike in cases after the Thanksgiving break.

Morgan Stanley also reported recent outbreaks at its New York offices, according to people familiar with the matter. The bank, where workers often sit in an open office format, has required employees to be vaccinated, but does not have a mask mandate. A company spokesman declined to comment.

CEO James Gorman caused a sensation this summer when he admonished his staff and argued that if they could go to a restaurant, they could go back to the office.

His argument reflected a growing reality for many of Wall Street’s top brass: They were ready to get back to normal and they were tired of workers resisting.

Now, just a few months later, Gorman is singing a different tune. “I was wrong about this”He said in an interview with CNBC this week. “Everyone is still looking for their way, and suddenly the omicron variant arrives. Who knows, we will have pi, we will have theta and epsilon, and eventually we will run out of letters of the alphabet. The virus is still a problem ”.

One possible reason Gorman was wrong: New infections among those vaccinated were more common than expected during the recent surge in the delta variant, meaning companies requiring vaccines weren’t as protected as they thought.

At Barclays Plc, some teams have shelved their holiday parties and the firm has seen a spike in cases at its New York offices. Some Christmas meetings for Goldman Sachs Group Inc. have been postponed, while cases have surfaced at various offices in the Northeast.

However, many employees are still in the office: CEO David Salomón posted a photo on Instagram Wednesday showing the lobby of the bank’s headquarters in lower Manhattan, where vaccinations are mandatory, full of staff wearing face masks. and attending a Christmas bazaar.

The disruptions come just as Americans prepare for Christmas trips and family reunions, and there is little indication that those plans have changed. Southwest Airlines Co. He noted that he expects the planes to be normally full during the next vacation and that the pleasure bookings for travel in December exceeded his expectations.

“The airline has not seen any noticeable impact on travel demand related to the omicron variant”The company said in a statement Wednesday.

Even when people fill restaurants, bars and football stadiums in their spare time, employers are responsible for doing the right thing on behalf of their workers, he said. William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University.

In Silicon Valley, turmoil is delaying a return to normalcy for tech giants, many of which have permanently embraced flexibility at work as they compete to keep their workforce. On Wednesday, Apple postponed its return to office date of February 1 to a date “yet to be determined”. Similarly, Google and Uber Technologies Inc. resigned to define a formal deadline.

The haphazard approach during the course of the pandemic could make it difficult for employers to eventually hunt down workers back into the office when companies are truly ready. Google set and reset return dates so many times that employees stopped taking them seriously.

“Every time a date was set, it became something of a joke“, He said Jeffrey Yaskin, technology leader of the web platform team of Google Chrome.

Taking a gradual approach, rather than setting a date for everyone to return, might be the best policy, he said. Sandy Nelson, specialist in infectious diseases of the Hospital General de Massachusetts. Scientists still don’t know exactly how communicable omicron is, how severe the disease it produces, or how well existing vaccines and therapies resist, he said.

“There are times when the risks are too high or unknown, so taking these risks is not justifiedNelson said.