South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Employers plan for return to office
A year and a pandemic ago, more than 100,000 people filled the central business district in Charlotte, North Carolina, pouring out of offices, including several recently built skyscrapers, and into restaurants, bars and sports venues. Then as the coronavirus sent employees to their homes, much of the city center went quiet and dark.
The return of those employees to their offices has been halting and difficult.
Last fall, Fifth Third Bank began bringing back workers but soon reversed course. LendingTree, which is moving from the suburbs to the city, is waiting for the end of the school year. Wells Fargo has delayed its return to the office several times, telling its employees recently that they will continue to work remotely through at least May 1. And Duke Energy will bring some employees back in June, and most of the 6,000 people at its headquarters in September, when children should be able to go back to schools.
Corporate executives around the country are wrestling with how to reopen offices as the pandemic starts to loosen its grip. Businesses — and many employees — are eager to return to some kind of normal work life, going back to the office, grabbing lunch at their favorite restaurant or stopping for drinks after work.
But the world has changed, and many managers and workers alike acknowledge that there are advantages to remote work.
While coronavirus cases are declining and vaccinations are rising, many companies have not committed to a time and strategy for bringing employees back. The most important variable, many executives said, is how long it will take for most employees to be vaccinated.
President Joe Biden said this week that the United States was “on track” to have enough vaccines for every adult by the end of May.
About a quarter of employees across the country are going into offices these days, according to Kastle Systems, an office security firm that gets data from 3,600 buildings in the United States.
Many companies, paying to rent empty office space, are eager for that number to rise. Their executives believe that having employees working side by side improves collaboration, supports the development of younger employees, and nurtures the heart and soul of any company — its culture.
Some companies that have begun trying to get workers back to the office — like Vivint, a home security business based in Provo, Utah, that has more than 10,000 employees across the country — say they are doing so on a voluntary basis.
Vivint is allowing 40% of its 4,000 employees in Utah to return, although only about 20% have chosen to do so regularly. The company has required some call center workers who are “struggling to deliver on their calls” and need additional coaching to come in.
To accommodate social distancing, Vivint has restricted access to each building to a single entrance, where employees have their temperature taken. Signs remind employees to wear masks at all times, and the company has limited capacity in conference rooms.
Vivint also has an on-site clinic that has been offering 15-minute rapid virus tests to employees and their families.
“It’s super important for our ability to give peace of mind to our employees,” said Starr Fowler, senior vice president for human resources.