USAA delays return of workers again

As virus keeps spreading, date to come back gets moved from start of January to Feb. 1

The relentless spread of COVID-19 has San Antonio’s USAA again postponing the voluntary return of its workforce.

USAA on Monday said the phased return of its employees will begin Feb. 1 rather than right after the start of the New Year. Their return originally was planned for Sept. 1 but got pushed back to the beginning of January after COVID-19 cases surged in June.

The Feb. 1 return date “continues to ensure the safety of our employees and allows them to return with consideration to their individual situations and our business needs,” USAA spokesman Christian Bove said in an email.

The delay comes as Bexar County on Sunday reported 86,916 COVID-19 cases and 1,397 coronavirus-related deaths. The county had just topped 10,000 cases at the end of June when USAA postponed the planned Sept. 1 return.

USAA has developed its returnto-the-office strategy by relying on “medical guidance that includes criteria for community readiness”; federal, state and local decisions; employee feedback and other considerations such as school closures; and “lessons learned from organizations” that have reopened, Bove said.

USAA is one of San Antonio’s largest employers, with more than 19,000 workers here. Overall, it has about 35,000 employees, most of whom have been working from home during the pandemic.

Only about 1,400 workers are coming into USAA offices, though that figure includes third-party contractors, Bove said. Besides San Antonio, USAA has offices in North Texas, Phoenix and Tampa, Fla.

USAA is leaving open the possibility that the return date could get changed again, depending on the spread of the virus.

The company has no plans to require coronavirus vaccinations

before workers can return to the office.

“While we believe it’s in everyone’s best interest to get the vaccine, and we will be educating our employees on why we believe it is the right thing to do, we do not plan to require any employees to get the vaccine before returning to work,” Bove said.

USAA has implemented safety protocols at its offices, including temperature screenings, office cleanings, “social distancing configurations” and requiring facial coverings when employees are away from their desks. It has closed most gathering places, including cafeterias and gyms.

Bove said USAA has been working to sublease some of its facilities, including in the Vista Corporate Center and in the WestRidge office development in San Antonio.

“Employees currently assigned to these locations will either continue working from home or relocate to other local campuses once employees return to the office,” Bove said.