In the News: Citigroup will require vaccines

Crain’s reports that Citigroup will require vaccines for all workers returning to the office on Greenwich Street. But they have also pushed off the return date for workers.

When I spoke to their press office in May, the plan was to bring about 30 percent back by July (they were at 10 percent then). But Citi’s head of human resources announced on LinkedIn that the date is now Sept. 13, and on top of that, employees are only expected to return two days a week.

“All colleagues at our NYC HQ and other offices in the Tri-State area, as well as Chicago, Boston, D.C. and Philadelphia, will be expected to return at least two days a week and vaccination is required,” Sara Wechter wrote on LinkedIn yesterday. “Given the increased number of employees returning to these buildings, and the Delta variant in the U.S., we are taking this approach to ensure a safe workplace…These are our plans as of today, and I assure you if the facts change, we will too.”

At Citi, the building at 388 Greenwich was designed to accommodate 12,000 employees — up from 9000 prior to the 2019 renovations.

I know I am stating the obvious when I say that this will have an impact on the neighborhood’s retail.

And there’s more. Crain’s also surveyed the health tech companies, many of whom are downtown. The numbers are a lot smaller, but they will add up. Oscar, the insurer which has 1,800 U.S. employees, delayed its office return by at least a month to October. “The vast majority of Oscar employees likely will work in either hybrid or fully remote roles in the future, Krouse said.” K Health, with 200 employees in Nomad, has scaled back from four days a week for a return to two days a week.

 

4 Comments

  1. Glad they’re requiring vaccines.

  2. My spouse works at citi and is mandated to work 3x a week so not sure who is actually following these ‘rules’. However very happy about vax mandate!

  3. I work at Citi and we were just given an ultimatum- – get vaxxed or get fired with no benefits. This is tyranny and discrimination against religious beliefs, medical issues, etc. Yes we were advised we would be given the opportunity to submit an exemption form, however, they have yet to explain where to send it.
    Many are terrified between choosing to feed their families and do something they disagree with for whatever reason.
    We want to work! But not like this. I have family and friends who cannot get vaccines because of allergies. Their doctors have told them they could die.
    Can you imagine if a transgender person was denied employment once they revealed they were transgender? Or a woman who had an abortion denied employment because of a choice she made?
    We are going backwards! Think before you start celebrating forced/coerced mandates!

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