Google, Facebook mandate vaccination
Google and Facebook will require vaccinations for all employees who work at their office campuses, a major shift as the delta variant fuels a new surge in coronavirus cases.
Google’s mandate applies to all its offices, while Facebook’s order is for U.S. offices. It is evaluating other regions.
“Getting vaccinated is one of the most important ways to keep ourselves and our communities healthy in the months ahead,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a memo to employees Wednesday. “Even as the virus continues to surge in many parts of the world, it’s encouraging to see very high vaccination rates for our Google community in areas where vaccines are widely available.”
Google also extended voluntary work from home from September to Oct. 18; employees with special circumstances can apply to work remotely for the rest of the year, Pichai wrote. Google’s mandate applies to contractors, including shuttle bus drivers.
Apple also delayed its mandatory return for a month as cases rise.
The tech giants had previously encouraged employees to be vaccinated. The heightened requirements match those of numerous government agencies and universities, including the cities of San Francisco and New York, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the California State University and UC systems. President Biden plans to announce on Thursday that all federal employees must be vaccinated or subject to regular testing, according to multiple media reports.
A handful of other major companies have mandated vaccines, including Morgan Stanley. Salesforce, San Francisco’s largest private employer, required its first batch of returning workers to be vaccinated as it reopened, a requirement that remains throughout its offices.
“We were the first major technology company to introduce this sciencebased, safetyfirst approach,” said Cheryl Sanclemente, a Salesforce spokeswoman. The company is evaluating a potential expansion of the policy.
Dr. John Swartzberg, an infectious disease expert at UC Berkeley, said many large companies he consults with wish government vaccine mandates were broader so it wouldn’t fall to them to make the call.
“They’re really carrying out the public health mission that the government is not, in my opinion,” he said.
Swartzberg believes companies delaying their planned return to the office also makes sense, with projections that the delta variant could drive transmission rates higher into October.
Regardless of vaccination status, he said he strongly feels that “people should be wearing a mask indoors, vaccinated or not,” especially in light of recent CDC guidelines. On Wednesday, California health officials recommended everyone in the state wear a mask indoors, a sharp reversal after the state fully reopened its economy in June.
On Tuesday, Google parent Alphabet reported a 62% surge in revenue to $61.9 billion in the second quarter compared with last year. Facebook also had blockbuster earnings, with revenue surging 56% to $29 billion in the second quarter, compared with last year, underscoring how much the pandemic has benefited tech companies.
Other Bay Area companies are postponing or canceling plans to reopen offices. In response to the rising number of coronavirus cases, Twitter has closed its San Francisco and New York offices just two weeks after reopening them.
“We’ve pushed back our original Aug. 1 date for office reopening to Oct. 4. We are continuing to pay attention to new developments and evaluate the situation,” said Sarah Frueh, a spokeswoman for Blend, a financial technology company headquartered in San Francisco.
She added that the company is allowing employees to permanently work remotely and plans to keep its office spaces for those who live close by and want to come in when they open.
Envoy, a San Francisco company that makes software to help companies safely reopen their offices and create spaces that cater to hybrid work, opened its offices in June of this year but is taking precautions including requiring vaccinations for any employees who come in.
“Employees can come in as often as they’d like or not at all. We have about 20% who choose to come in at least once a week,” said Larry Gadea, the company’s founder and CEO, in an email.
The company also requires daily health screenings on top of vaccinations for inperson work but isn’t mandating that people wear masks. “Of course, we will comply with all city, county, state and federal guidelines as they are issued,” Gadea said. “We’re keeping a close eye on any variant developments and are monitoring local infection rates.”