Delta variant has many companies rethinking the return to work

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

In many ways, Dr. Beth Frye has been planning her company's return to the office since March 2020.

She's been closely tracking Covid-19 case data, vaccination rates and federal guidance. She's been communicating that information to her staff and using it for return planning for months.

Frye, chief of operations and physician executive consultant for WittKieffer, a Chicago-based global executive recruitment firm, has a unique perspective on the pandemic. She's an internist by training who spent 20 years in academic medicine and also served as senior director of ambulatory services for Loyola University Health Systems. She knows the pandemic is a battle that's not going away in the near future. But it is evolving.

"It just keeps changing," Frye said.

Like many businesses, WittKieffer is targeting a return date of Sept. 7 — after the Labor Day holiday and the start of school for most students. But the evolving Covid-19 situation may tweak those plans.

https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2021/07/30/delta-variant-return-to-work.html

[Laurelin]

1. The NL is back to work from home recommendation

We've had Delta for quite a while. Work from home is one of the few guidelines we have. No masks. Vaccination is going well at least.

It's odd. Our cases were growing exponentially. I think we increased 500% in one week. They climbed like crazy for a while and then started falling. The only changes were work from home, continued increases in vaccinations, nightclubs and bars closed earlier, and school holidays started. Nobody expected the cases to drop but they seem to have (still not sure it's not testing related with holidays). Britain is also dropping now and they've stopped all covid regulations. I don't think anyone expected the drop. I hope the US will also get lucky.

I think everyone is expecting a bad fall surge though.

[MurrayDelph]

2. I have a buddy who recently retired from a big music industry service in Los Angeles

When we both lived in L.A., we'd get together for lunch every month-or-so, always at the mall across the street from their offices, so he could easily get work afterwards. When I moved to Oregon and then retired, the lunches were less-frequent, but always across the street from office.

He retired in December 2020. In April, after we're both fully-vaccinated (according to then-current definitions), he announced he and his family was moving to Arizona. As we had never finished a project that required me being there, I came to LA.

For old-time's-sake, we had lunch across from his old office. I asked if he was going to stick his head in to say hello. He said no, they'd sent everyone to work from home, and had no plans to come back afterwards.

That's part of the schadenfreude: Trump's mishandling of this pandemic has permanently destroyed the commercial real estate component of his holdings.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. Virus Surge Disrupts Office-Return Plans

My firm keeps track who has been vaccinated and up until Friday the unvaccinated had to wear masks and the vaccinated could forgo mask. Now everyone has to wear masks and the unvaccinated have to be tested weekly
https://politicalwire.com/2021/07/24/virus-surge-disrupts-office-return-plans/

When companies began announcing tentative return-to-office plans this spring, there was a sense of optimism behind the messages. Covid cases were dwindling in the United States as the vaccine rollout picked up pace. Employers largely hoped their workers would get shots on their own, motivated by raffle tickets, paid time off and other perks, if not by the consensus of the medical community.”

“In recent days, that tone has suddenly shifted. The Delta variant, a more contagious version of the coronavirus, is sweeping through the country. Fewer than half of Americans are fully vaccinated, exacerbating the situation… It all adds up to a difficult calculation for America’s business leaders, who hoped the country would already be fully on a path to normalcy, with employees getting back to offices. Instead, individual companies are now being forced to make tough decisions that they had hoped could be avoided, such as whether to reverse reopening plans or institute vaccine mandates for employees.”