Tag Archives: workplace safety

Business

Inside a Chinese iPhone Plant, Foxconn Grapples With Covid Chaos

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HONG KONG—

Foxconn Technology

2354 -0.76%

Group is scrambling to contain a weekslong Covid-19 outbreak at an iPhone factory in central China, trying to appease frightened and frustrated workers during a crucial period for smartphone orders.

In Foxconn’s main Zhengzhou facility, the world’s biggest assembly site for

Apple Inc.’s

AAPL 7.56%

iPhones, hundreds of thousands of workers have been placed under a closed-loop system for almost two weeks. They are largely shut off from the outside world, allowed only to move between their dorms or homes and the production lines.

Many said they have been confined to their quarters for days and that distribution of food and other essentials has been chaotic. Many others say they are too scared to carry on working because of the risk of getting infected.

Foxconn on Wednesday denied what it said were online rumors that 20,000 cases had been detected at the site and said that for “the small number of employees affected by the pandemic,” it is providing necessary supplies.

“A sudden outbreak disrupted our normal life,” Foxconn said Friday in a post to its workers on

WeChat,

a social-media platform. “An orderly progress in both pandemic prevention and output depends on the efforts of all staff,” it said. It outlined plans to ensure proper food supplies and mental well-being support and pledged to respond to workers’ concerns.

Asked about the workers’ details of the situation at the site, Foxconn didn’t respond. Earlier when asked about the situation, the company referred to its Wednesday statement as well as to its Friday post on WeChat.

Covid-19 lockdowns, corruption crackdowns and more have put China’s economy on a potential crash course. WSJ’s Dion Rabouin explains how China’s economic downturn could harm the U.S. and the rest of the world. Illustration: David Fang

“It’s too dangerous to go to work,” a 21-year-old worker who has been confined to his dorm told The Wall Street Journal, saying that he was skeptical about the company’s claim that there was a low level of infections at the plant.

The disruption at Foxconn is the latest example of the economic and societal toll from China’s rigid pandemic control policies—which include swift and sweeping lockdowns, mass testing and compulsory quarantines to crush the virus whenever it appears. While Beijing says the virus is too potent to allow any easing of its zero-Covid policy, businesses must convince their employees that there is little risk coming to work when there are signs of an outbreak.

Zhengzhou’s flare-up—95 cases recorded in the city the past four days—began in early October, after people returned from other parts of the country from a one-week national holiday. At the first signs of Covid in the city, officials locked down some districts and began rounds of mass testing to stamp out the virus before it gained a foothold among Zhengzhou’s 12.7 million residents. As a major employer, Foxconn joined the campaign.

When more infections emerged at Foxconn midmonth, the company sought to maintain output by creating a “bubble” around its operations to lower the risk of exposure, a practice now common among major manufacturers in China to continue their business during a local outbreak.

Foxconn says it employs as many as 300,000 workers in Zhengzhou. Analysts estimate that the company produces half or more of Apple’s smartphones in the city, making it vital for delivering iPhones to consumers, including for the coming winter holiday season when demand for the handsets typically spikes.

Foxconn, in its statement on Wednesday, said that production at the site is “relatively stable” and that it is sticking to its operating outlook for the current quarter as the impact from the outbreak is controllable. It is set to report quarterly results Nov. 10.

Apple, in its quarterly earnings release Thursday, didn’t mention Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant. Its chief financial officer said that supply is constrained for the new iPhone 14 Pro models due to strong demand.

Apple didn’t respond to requests for comment about conditions at the Foxconn plant.

Some workers interviewed by the Journal said many colleagues had refused to go back to the production lines. Others had simply left, they said, sometimes abandoning their belongings.

On Sunday, a state-run newspaper in Henan published official notices from various parts of the province welcoming their people to return, with quarantine protocols laid out.

Over the weekend, videos geotagged near the Foxconn site went viral on China’s social-media platforms, recording groups of people walking on highways or through farm fields carrying suitcases and backpacks. Other footage showed makeshift stations set up by local residents offering bottles of water in front of handwritten signs to support migrant Foxconn workers leaving for home.

Foxconn said in a statement Sunday that the situation is coming under control with help from authorities. The company said it is organizing transportation for workers who wish to return home and is coordinating production capacity with its plants elsewhere to minimize disruption. There is no shortage of medical supplies or daily necessities at the facility, it said.

Earlier on Friday, the company had posted a video on WeChat urging people to return to work. “The company needs people,” said a woman’s voice over footage of workers stepping off a bus. “If nobody comes to work, how can the company run?”

Another Foxconn employee said most of his dozen-strong team of night-shift workers had either been taken to a quarantine facility or had refused to return to work. Every night, he said, he saw workers covered in protective gear waiting to be taken away by bus.

“I don’t know who around me is a positive case,” said the worker, who has been confined to his dorm for a few days. “I’d be better off staying in the dorm.”

With so many stuck inside their quarters, sent to quarantine centers or simply absent from work, the pace of production at some assembly lines has slowed, two of the workers said.

Foxconn has created incentives to maintain production, according to Friday’s company notice.

Anyone turning up for work will get free meals and a daily bonus, it said. Those turning up every working day from Oct. 26 to Nov. 11 will get an award of 1,500 yuan, or about $200.

The 21-year-old employee who spoke to the Journal and who worked on an assembly line making an older iPhone version, said he had been confined to his quarters since Oct. 17, along with thousands of others.

Over the following days, meal deliveries were delayed and garbage was left unattended in the hallways, piling up on the ground floor as more dorms were locked down, he said.

A daughter of one worker said her mother was placed in the same dorm as some who tested positive. Some other workers made similar complaints.

Around 10 days ago, almost 300 employees from Foxconn suppliers were asked to move out of their dormitories and sleep in the factory, one of them said.

In photos he shared with the Journal, people slept on bedding and pillows placed on metal bed frames, under white fluorescent lights suspended from the hangar-like roof. Hygiene has become a problem, he said. Still, he said he isn’t supposed to leave the plant—and has nowhere to go if he did.

“Where can I go? Barriers are everywhere,” he said. “There are people manning every checkpoint.”

Business and the Pandemic

Write to Wenxin Fan at Wenxin.Fan@wsj.com and Selina Cheng at selina.cheng@wsj.com

Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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Health

Cold and flu season is here, and people are showing up to work sick

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A relic of pre-pandemic days is making its return to the workplace: the office cold.

You might remember getting caught in its crosshairs — first, one person shows up with a cough and the sniffles, swearing it all sounds worse than it feels. Within weeks, like clockwork, the bug jumps from desk to desk until half of the team is down for the count.

With people returning to workplaces amid relaxing Covid protocols, poor Covid-19 booster uptake and cold and flu season on the way, the office bug is making an unwelcome comeback.

It wasn’t that long ago that ReDell Atkinson remembers her coworkers taking extra precautions around the office with masking, social distancing, hand-washing and staying home when sick.

But in recent weeks, “it’s apparent in the cubicles: The sneezes will go around in a domino effect, and you can tell people aren’t as quick to stay home as they were before,” Atkinson, 27, tells CNBC Make It. “The precautions we were taking before aren’t there anymore.”

Cold, flu, Covid cases could be serious this winter

There are already hints that this year’s cold and flu season could be bad: On Oct. 14, the CDC reported early increases in seasonal flu activity. Hospitals across the country have reported a surge in cases of RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, a common virus that causes lung infections.

The uptick in RSV cases is a good proxy that “a lot of respiratory viruses are circulating now,” says Dr. John Swartzberg, a clinical professor emeritus at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health. “No one can predict what’ll happen, but it’s reasonable to be very concerned” that respiratory tract infections will rise into the late fall and winter, he says.

Meanwhile, he’s concerned that public health practices emphasized during the pandemic are falling away, Americans have less access to free Covid tests, and businesses aren’t doing more to protect workers through improved sick leave policies and air ventilation systems.

Most Americans don’t plan to get a flu shot this season, two new omicron subvariants are spreading fast, and “the vast majority is behaving as if there’s no pandemic,” Swartzberg says. “The same things we can do to prevent Covid are the same things that’ll prevent other respiratory tract infections.”

Possible symptoms for the common cold, flu and Covid

Common cold
•  Sore throat •  Runny nose
•  Coughing •  Sneezing
•  Headaches •  Body aches
Flu
•  Fever or chills/feeling feverish
•  Cough •  Sore throat
•  Runny/stuffy nose •  Muscle/body aches
•  Headaches •  Fatigue
Some people may experience vomiting and diarrhea, but this is more common in children than adults.
Covid
•  Fever or chills •  Cough
•  Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath •  New loss of taste or smell
•  Fatigue •  Muscle/body aches
•  Headache •  Sore throat
•  Congestion/runny nose •  Nausea/vomiting
•  Diarrhea

Companies ratchet up return to office and productivity warnings

Fall bugs are coinciding with workers facing increasing pressure to be back in the office, says Caroline Walsh, vice president in the Gartner HR practice.

As of September, 36% of organizations required workers to be in the office at least three days a week, up from 25% in August, according to a Gartner survey of 240 HR leaders — “even though our data shows working remotely, for those who can, does not negatively impact performance and culture,” Walsh says. Still, “there’s more pressure to get people in, and it’s hitting at the same time as cold and flu and RSV season.”

The same things we can do to prevent Covid are the same things that’ll prevent other respiratory tract infections.

Dr. John Swartberg

clinical professor emeritus at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health

Recession fears could also be making workers feel the need to show up sick. High inflation and a volatile stock market are putting stress on organizations and productivity, particularly as many try to close out the year in a shaky economy, and “there’s a temptation to push people to go all-in and work until they can’t anymore,” Walsh says.

She also worries pandemic lessons on well-being are fading into the background: “In some ways, it’s ridiculous we have to have this conversation,” she says. “You shouldn’t come to work sick. And the last two years should have taught us that. Some return to normal is exciting, but returning to normal pressures to go into the office when sick is something I had hoped we left behind.”

Working while sick does everyone a disservice

Showing up to work sick, or even powering through from home, can be damaging on a number of levels.

For one, working instead of letting the body rest will only prolong your illness and recovery, says Dr. Geeta Nayyar, chief medical officer at Salesforce.

“When you rest, your immune system is in a better position to fight off any infection, get better and recover faster,” she says.

Some return to normal is exciting, but returning to normal pressures to go into the office when sick is something I had hoped we left behind.

Caroline Walsh

VP in the Gartner HR Practice

Showing up to the workplace while sick can also put immunocompromised colleagues or their family members at risk of illness.

Productivity-wise, you’re unlikely to be performing at your best, and on morale, colleagues showing up sick “brings the whole team down,” Nayyar adds. “It shows there’s no opportunity to get rest when you need it.”

Bosses have to encourage sick days and really mean it

The most impactful thing employers can do to keep their workforces healthy is to provide paid sick leave so people can stay home when they need to. But roughly 1 in 5 workers doesn’t have access to paid sick days, and it’s an even bigger problem for low-wage workers.

And while providing sick leave is one thing, it’s also important for bosses to take sick time for themselves and proactively encourage their team to do the same.

Walsh says that if you’re a manager, tactfully nudging your employee to go home doesn’t have to be awkward. Stick with simple questions: How are you doing? How are you feeling? I noticed you were sniffling a little bit in our last meeting — how’s it going?

If someone seems reticent to take a break, “it’s helpful to uncover the barriers to that person taking time off,” Walsh says. As a manager, see if there’s something you can do to reduce their workload or redistribute work among team members.

For junior employees, be explicit about when workers can and should take their sick or PTO days, especially if you have unlimited policies. “Newer associates who’ve entered the workforce during the pandemic really have no idea the norms of when it’s OK to take time off,” Walsh says.

Underlying all of this is the need for psychological safety, she adds: “At the end of the day, workers have to know they’re not going to be penalized for taking time off.”

Atkinson says she’s thankful to work for a company with unlimited sick days and the ability to work from home when needed. It’s the least she can do to keep herself, her family members and her teammates healthy. “With everything going on, it’s irresponsible to not look out for other people.”

She remembers her boss once saying: Take one day to yourself. We get you for the rest of the year. It helped her realize that if she shows up sick and does a bad job, it only exacerbates the situation and her illness, rather than if she stayed home to recuperate and came back feeling 100%.

“At end of the day,” even if she takes a break, “the work is going to get done.”

Check out:

Experts predicted Covid would normalize the sick day. It’s done the opposite

Is it a cold, the flu or Covid-19? It can be hard to determine without testing—this chart may help narrow it down

How Gen Z is rewriting dating, marriage and family plans for their 20s

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Health

Should you WFH or take a sick day? What to consider this cold season

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It almost feels inevitable at this point: In the coronavirus pandemic’s third year and with a new cold and flu season upon us, chances are good you’ll wake up feeling less-than-stellar one of these mornings.

There are already hints that this year’s cold and flu season could be bad: The CDC reported early increases in seasonal flu activity, and anecdotally, people are letting their Covid precautions slip and showing up to work sick anyway.

Not only are there new rules to test and monitor your symptoms to determine what bug you have, work-from-home has raised the bar on taking a sick day — even if you can’t physically report to the office, who’s to say you can’t fire off a few emails while recovering from the couch?

Here’s what health and workplace experts advise.

What to do if you wake up feeling sick

If you wake up with a sore throat or runny nose, treat it like it could be Covid-19 and take an at-home rapid test, says Dr. John Swartzberg, a clinical professor emeritus at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health.

If your first rapid test is positive, it’s safe to assume you have Covid-19 and make plans to self-isolate, he says.

If it’s negative, that doesn’t mean you’re in the clear. Swartzberg suggests staying home and testing again the next day.

If your second at-home test is negative, or if you complete a PCR test that’s negative, then you likely don’t have Covid, but you could still have another respiratory virus or infection.

Consider visiting your primary care doctor to be sure. Even physicians say that because of overlapping symptoms, it takes a proper test to determine if you have a cold, the flu, Covid or even seasonal allergies, says Céline Gounder, an infectious disease specialist, epidemiologist and senior fellow at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Generally, Swartzman says, “through the eyes of a physician and as a public health professional, if you’re not feeling well with respiratory symptoms, you should stay home. That’s the safest thing to do.”

Should you WFH or take a sick day?

As for deciding whether to log into work from home, it’s a good idea to work with your own primary care doctor to understand your health and vulnerability if you do, says Dr. Geeta Nayyar, chief medical officer at Salesforce.

You’ll want to gauge: “How sick are you? Do you have a fever? Are you actively symptomatic? Are you experiencing headaches and unable to focus? That’s very different from recovering from an illness, where maybe you’re not at 100% but you can give 85%.”

Maybe you have a pressing deadline or an hour of work you really need to do, Nayyar says. “You’re going to be the best judge as to whether that’s a work-from-home day or you can completely sign off.”

If you’re going up against a boss who’s made their dislike of remote work clear, or is pressuring you to keep working, remind them of times you’ve been just as productive at home throughout the pandemic, says Caroline Walsh, vice president in the Gartner HR practice.

And if a full day off is in order, discuss how you’ll be more productive and engaged after you’ve rested. “It’s the time of year that organizations are in a final crunch,” Walsh adds. “The more they can have a well-rested team, the more they can have a productive team.”

Generally, remember that working while sick does everyone a disservice: Your body will take longer to fight off illness, your productivity will suffer, and morale-wise, showing up sick “brings the whole team down,” Nayyar says. “It shows there’s no opportunity to get rest when you need it.”

Yes, you can WFH if your colleague keeps showing up sick

Nayyar says it’s up to managers to model good behavior to stay home while sick. They should also invite sick employees to go home and assure them it’s not only good for them, but also for the rest of the team. “Imagine going from being one person down to five people down — it doesn’t help the work.”

You can also make those suggestions horizontally to a peer, Walsh adds. Go in with supportive questions: How are you doing? Is there anything I can do for you so you can go home and rest?

If those conversations aren’t happening and your desk-mate is still reporting to the office, congestion and all, Nayyar encourages workers to make use of flexible policies: “If you’re at risk or feel your health is at jeopardy, the same work-from-home policies apply to you.”

Paid sick time is only the start

It can’t be overlooked that not everyone is guaranteed paid sick time. There is currently no federal law to mandate paid sick time, and just a handful of states and cities have their own requirements. Roughly 1 in 5 workers doesn’t have access to paid sick days, and it’s an even bigger problem for low-wage workers.

ReDell Atkinson, 27, says she’s noticed more people showing up to her office with a cough or sneezing. Though her workplace has unlimited sick days, she understands why some people show up if they’re on deadline or can’t complete certain tasks from home. But she’d like to see people continue taking heightened health precautions: mask wearing, hand washing, joining meetings virtually, social distancing and staying up-to-date on vaccines.

Swartzberg and Nayyar agree employers can make sure they’re helping their workforce stay informed about how to stay healthy during cold and flu season, understand how viruses and bacteria spread, what symptoms to look out for, where to seek medical attention and other resources to recover from illness.

With open enrollment season, employers should make sure their employees have access to a primary care physician — even better if they support telemedicine options. And employers can provide an on-site vaccine clinic or time off to get the flu shot, as well as the Covid vaccine or updated boosters.

For now, Atkinson will do what she can when she encounters under-the-weather colleagues milling about: Stay masked, reach for the hand sanitizer and mentally check if she took her multivitamins that day.

“Little things build healthy habits,” she says. “Our bodies aren’t just fighting Covid — they’re fighting life.”

Check out:

Experts predicted Covid would normalize the sick day. It’s done the opposite

Is it a cold, the flu or Covid-19? It can be hard to determine without testing—this chart may help narrow it down

How Gen Z is rewriting dating, marriage and family plans for their 20s

Sign up now: Get smarter about your money and career with our weekly newsletter

Read original article here

Business

Shopify Says It Will Lay Off 10% of Workers, Sending Shares Lower

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Shopify Inc.

SHOP -14.06%

is cutting roughly 1,000 workers, or 10% of its global workforce, rolling back a bet on e-commerce growth the technology company made during the pandemic, according to an internal memo.

Tobi Lütke,

the company’s founder and chief executive, told staff in a memo sent Tuesday that the layoffs are necessary as consumers resume old shopping habits and pull back on the online orders that fueled the company’s recent growth. Shopify, which helps businesses set up e-commerce websites, has warned that it expects revenue growth to slow this year.

Shopify’s shares fell 14% to $31.55 on Tuesday after The Wall Street Journal first reported on the layoffs. The shares have fallen more than 80% since they peaked in November near $175 adjusting for a recent stock split. The company reports quarterly results on Wednesday.

Mr. Lütke said he had expected that surging e-commerce sales growth would last past the Covid-19 pandemic’s ebb. “It’s now clear that bet didn’t pay off,” said Mr. Lütke in the letter, which was reviewed by the Journal. “Ultimately, placing this bet was my call to make and I got this wrong.”

The Ottawa-based company will cut jobs in all its divisions, though most of the layoffs will occur in recruiting, support and sales units, said Mr. Lütke. “We’re also eliminating overspecialized and duplicate roles, as well as some groups that were convenient to have but too far removed from building products,” he wrote. Staff who are being let go will be notified on Tuesday.

Shopify’s job cuts are among the largest so far in a wave of layoffs and hiring freezes that is washing over technology companies. Rising interest rates, supply-chain shortages and the reversal of pandemic trends, including remote work and e-commerce shopping, have cooled what was once a red-hot tech sector.

Shopify’s job cuts are the first big layoffs the company has announced since Tobi Lütke founded it in 2006.



Photo:

Cate Dingley/Bloomberg News

Netflix Inc.

cut about 300 workers in June as it deals with a loss in subscribers.

Twitter Inc.,

now mired in a legal standoff with

Elon Musk,

laid off fewer than 100 members of its talent acquisition team. Mr. Musk’s own company, electric-vehicle maker

Tesla Inc.,

late in June laid off roughly 200 people, after announcing it would cut 10% of salaried staff.

Other firms, including

Microsoft Corp.

and

Alphabet Inc.’s

Google, said they would slow hiring the rest of the year.

Tuesday’s announcement is Mr. Lütke’s first big move after Shopify’s shareholders approved a board plan to protect his voting power. The job cuts are the first big layoffs the company has announced since Mr. Lütke started the company in 2006.

Shopify’s workforce has increased from 1,900 in 2016 to roughly 10,000 in 2021, according to the company’s filings. The hiring spree was made to help keep up with booming business. E-commerce shopping surged during the pandemic, and many small-business owners created online stores to sell goods and services.

Shopify reported annual revenue growth of 86% in 2020 and 57% in 2021 to about $4.6 billion. However, the company reported a softening this year, and warned that 2022’s numbers wouldn’t benefit from the pandemic trends.

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In his memo on Tuesday, Mr. Lütke said, “What we see now is the mix reverting to roughly where pre-Covid data would have suggested it should be at this point. Still growing steadily, but it wasn’t a meaningful 5-year leap ahead.”

Shopify has been expanding its business in recent years to provide more services for merchants. It has developed point-of-sale hardware for retailers, launched a shopping app for its merchants to list products and created a network of fulfillment centers to ship orders for its business partners.

In May, Shopify agreed to buy U.S. fulfillment specialist Deliverr Inc. for $2.1 billion in cash and stock. It announced partnerships with Twitter in June and with YouTube earlier this month, allowing users to buy items that Shopify merchants post on those platforms.

Shopify is offering 16 weeks of severance to the laid-off workers, plus one week for every year of service.

Write to Vipal Monga at vipal.monga@wsj.com

Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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Business

Kroger to End Some Covid-19 Benefits for Unvaccinated Workers

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Kroger Co.

KR -0.03%

is eliminating some Covid-19 benefits for unvaccinated employees, a move to encourage inoculations as the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate faces legal challenges.

The Cincinnati-based grocery chain told employees last week that it will no longer provide two weeks of paid emergency leave for unvaccinated employees who contract Covid-19, unless local jurisdictions require otherwise. Kroger will also add a $50 monthly surcharge to company health plans for unvaccinated managers and other nonunion employees, according to a memo viewed by The Wall Street Journal. Both policies are effective Jan. 1, the memo said.

Kroger, one of the biggest employers in the U.S. with almost half a million full-time and part-time employees, is tightening pandemic-related policies for workers as U.S. businesses face continued uncertainty over federal vaccination mandates. Rules issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in November require employers with 100 or more workers to ensure employees are vaccinated or take weekly Covid-19 tests by Jan. 4.

Whether those rules, which were targeted by lawsuits across the country, will take effect is uncertain. Last week, a U.S. court blocked the plan to mandate vaccines for federal contractors.

General Electric Co.

and others have since suspended vaccine requirements for employees. A federal appeals court in Cincinnati is considering whether to reinstate the administration’s rules for employers.

Kroger’s monthly surcharge applies to salaried employees, and doesn’t apply to hourly employees enrolled in the company’s health plan, or those represented by labor unions. About 66% of its workforce is unionized.

Kroger joins an increasing number of employers adding surcharges for unvaccinated employees.

Delta Air Lines Inc.

in August added a $200 monthly surcharge to its healthcare plan to alleviate the financial burden stemming from the pandemic. The carrier said it saw early signs of success, with the number of employees receiving their first Covid-19 shot tripling from the typical daily rate.

The board of Nevada Public Employees’ Benefits Program voted this month to add surcharges for state employees, retirees and their dependents who are unvaccinated. Employees and retirees under the state’s health plan are subject to a $55 monthly surcharge, under policies set to go into effect in July, and dependents are subject to a $175 monthly surcharge. More than 4,000 out of 23,000 state employees remain unvaccinated, said Laura Rich, executive officer of the state’s public employees benefits program.

The program’s board decided that the financial costs of tests and hospitalizations should be shifted to people who refuse to be vaccinated, Ms. Rich said, adding that the board views the surcharge to be the only method available to encourage vaccinations.

Supermarkets rely on hundreds of thousands of front-line workers, but most haven’t enforced a vaccine or test mandate or changed their policies. Industry executives have said they are hesitant about making big changes, fearing workers may quit if required to get vaccinated or tested weekly. They have also said costs continue to rise for labor and transportation.

A Kroger spokeswoman said the company is modifying policies to encourage safe behaviors as it prepares to navigate the next phase of the pandemic, and that the changes are designed to create a healthier workplace and workforce. She said the company considered feedback from employees and customers to guide its policies, and that Kroger will continue to encourage sick employees to stay home and seek the support of a physician if they contract the coronavirus. Unvaccinated employees can take paid time off or apply for unpaid leave, she said. Kroger has been motivating staffers to get vaccinated with a $100 payment.

Kroger’s Covid-19 policy changes don’t apply to employees with approved medical or religious accommodations, according to the memo. The company said in the memo that it continues to prepare and develop responses to OSHA’s Covid-19 vaccine requirement.

Speakers at the WSJ CEO Council Summit weigh to what extent the government should be able to require Covid-19 vaccinations.

Taking away paid Covid-19 sick leave is risky because many hourly wage workers likely don’t have the savings to stay at home, said

Molly Kinder,

a fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, which describes itself as nonpartisan. She said infected employees who needed income could go to work and endanger other employees and customers.

“We are almost two years into the pandemic, but we are not out of the woods,” Ms. Kinder said, given the spread of the Omicron variant.

The retail industry has faced monthslong labor shortages. Some store workers have quit because they switched industries or were worried about spreading or contracting Covid-19 in public settings, industry executives have said. Others have stayed out of the job market because of child-care duties or savings they accumulated during the pandemic.

Many grocery chains have been offering payments to encourage vaccinations. Companies have also kept plastic barriers at cash registers, are encouraging social distancing, and are sanitizing stores more frequently than they did before the pandemic. Most have ended hazard pay for workers in stores and warehouses. Mask policies for employees remain across many supermarket chains, though some stores have struggled to manage customers who show up without face coverings or refuse to wear them properly.

Adding a surcharge can be an effective way to encourage vaccinations because people are risk-averse when facing losses, said Helen Leis, a partner at consulting firm Oliver Wyman Inc. who advises companies on pandemic responses. At the same time, she said, the penalty has to be large enough to get employees’ attention.

“Folks who are choosing not to be vaccinated are very dedicated to their decisions,” Ms. Leis said.

Write to Jaewon Kang at jaewon.kang@wsj.com

Copyright ©2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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Business

Amazon Delays Return to Office to 2022 Amid Renewed Covid-19 Surge

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Amazon.com Inc. said it would delay corporate employees’ return to offices until next year as conditions around the Covid-19 pandemic evolve.

The company adds to the wave of businesses adjusting their return-to-work plans as the highly transmissible Delta variant of the virus drives a surge in coronavirus cases.

Amazon said Thursday that it was pushing its return to offices to at least Jan. 3, 2022. The online retail giant previously had targeted early September for regular office work to resume. The decision affects office workers both in the U.S. and other countries. The Seattle Times earlier reported on Amazon’s change in plans.

“We will continue to follow local government guidance and work closely with leading medical healthcare professionals, gathering their advice and recommendations as we go forward to ensure our work spaces are optimized for the safety of our teams,” Amazon said.

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. Thursday said it was delaying its staggered office return to Oct. 4 citing rising Covid-19 cases across the U.S. The guidance doesn’t affect those employees already working in person and some others.

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Business

Target, Facebook Issue Mask Requirements for Some Employees

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Facebook Inc. said Monday it will require any employee working at its U.S. offices to wear a mask, regardless of vaccination status. The social-networking giant last week said that employees working at its U.S. office would need to be vaccinated.

The new masking policy takes effect Aug. 3 and will remain in place until further notice, the company said. The move reflects rising Covid-19 cases, “the newest data on Covid variants, and an increasing number of local requirements,” a Facebook spokesman said.

Many of Facebook’s U.S. employees remain at home. The company has previously said it plans to reopen its U.S. offices more broadly this fall.

Separately, Target Corp. said Monday it would require workers to wear masks regardless of vaccination status in counties deemed at high risk of Covid-19 transmission, mirroring policies implemented by other companies last week in the wake of new guidance on mask wearing from U.S. officials.

Many retailers are taking new steps to follow the shifting federal health guidelines as Covid-19 cases jump in the U.S. but stopping short of the moves last year when they imposed nationwide mask rules when vaccines were unavailable. Roughly half the U.S. population is fully vaccinated.

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