CDC’s new guidance has ‘accelerated’ return-to-office plans for some firms
When Jamila Brinson started work last Tuesday, she was struck by what she didn’t hear.
Gone were the screams of her 2-year-old son pleading for a “huggie,” the barking of her dog, and the urgings of her nanny trying to rally her son and 5-year-old daughter. Instead, she walked into her office at the Jackson Walker law firm, closed the door, and took a breath.
“I will say it’s been great to be back in an environment that’s quiet where I can fully focus on my work,” Brinson said. “I realized I did miss that.”
Jackson Walker last week brought employees back to its downtown office for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, one of many businesses across Houston and the country that have changed their calculations for returning to the office since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined that fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks or practice social distancing. For many workers, the new guidelines, announced May 13, mean they will be back at their desks sooner than expected.
“It immediately accelerated people’s thinking
about when to bring people back to the office and the protocols to put in place,” said Bob Harvey, president and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership.
Houston, Austin and Dallas are leading the nation’s largest cities in bringing workers back to offices, according to Kastle Systems, a security company that has analyzed keycard access from 41,000 businesses across 47 states since before the pandemic began. As of May 12, about 43 percent of employees of its Houston customers swiped into their offices, along with 43 percent in Austin and 42 in Dallas.
That’s much higher than the average of the 10 largest cities, where about 28 percent of employees entered their places of work. San Francisco had the lowest rate, with only 16 percent of employees going into work.
Michael Slauson, general manager for the South and West region for Kastle System, said two factors have contributed to the faster return in Texas cities. First, Texas reopened its economy much earlier than New York, California and other states.
Still early
Second, in cities that rely heavily on mass transit, such as New York, Chicago, Washington and San Francisco, workers remain hesitant to cram into subways, buses and commuter trains, prompting employers to go slow in bringing employees back.
“It’s too early to tell how much (the numbers) will change as far as the mask mandate or lack thereof,” Slauson said. “I think we’ll start seeing that in the next couple of weeks.”
Harvey said he has heard more companies talk about bringing at least some workers back on June 1. Even before the change in CDC guidance, he said, many companies were coalescing around
that date after looking at rising local vaccination rates and declining COVID-19 cases.
On May 16, Texas logged zero deaths due to COVID-19 for the first time since March 2020, and the state reported a record low seven-day positivity rate of 3.9 percent last week.
CenterPoint Energy, for example, cited the improving COVID-19 statistics as part of its decision to bring its roughly 1,600 employees back to its downtown office on June 1. Managers and officers had already returned to their offices last fall.
Most companies have set targets to bring workers back before fall. Kinder Morgan, for example, expects to have about 50 percent of its 2,100 employees back in its downtown headquarters by late June, up from about 20 percent who were reporting to the office for work in April. The company expects 100 percent to be back by September.
Some companies, however, are still hesitant to bring workers back or announce reopening plans. Officials with the British oil major BP, which employs 4,000 people in Greater Houston, said they still have yet to determine when they will reopen offices as they prioritize employees’ health and safety in decision-making.
Jeremy Baines, president of Neste North America, a renewable fuels company that typically has 100 employees at its Galleria headquarters, said he and
his leadership team need to reflect on the new guidelines and how to bring people back safely. He said he is fine taking his time.
His workers were practiced in videoconferencing and collaborating with colleagues in Europe and other off-site locations before the pandemic, so the shift to working remotely was relatively easy.
“We don’t have a concrete plan yet,” Baines said. “But we think this summer we’ll gradually and safely reopen the office.”
The V question
Employers, meanwhile, are trying to determine how many of their workers are vaccinated. Many companies are doing anonymous surveys, Harvey said.
Brinson, the employment attorney with Jackson Walker, said employers don’t need to be that subtle. They can specifically ask individual employees whether they’ve gotten their shots.
“The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has stated, ‘Yes, employers can ask their employees whether they’re vaccinated for COVID-19.” she said. “It goes to the fact that there is still a pandemic, the risk and negative impacts of COVID-19 in the workplace are still so significant that it outweighs employees’ right to privacy.”
Brinson said most employers to whom she has talked have brought at least some people back. A minority of employers are still waiting to see how the vaccination phase of the pandemic pans out.
Regardless, she said, companies will need to be flexible as “going to work” becomes more involved than firing up the laptop on the dining room table and employees readjust to the requirements of the formal workplace, from dress to hours.
Not done yet
The pandemic, she added, is not over, and children under 12 are not yet eligible for vaccines — a concern for working parents and their employers.
Brinson, for example, had to work from home on Monday — the first day she was supposed to return to the office. Her young daughter was exposed to COVID-19, so she wanted to make sure she tested negative before returning.
“I’m thankful she was not positive, but I think employers are going to have to continue to be flexible, particularly for employees who have children,” Brinson said. “They’re going to have to allow workers to take the time that’s needed when there’s a potential exposure or a child care issue.”