Amid omicron spike, Bank of America asks office workers to stay home for now
Bank of America is encouraging employees to work remotely through the week of Jan. 10, the bank confirmed Thursday.
The Charlotte-based bank already had recommended that employees work from home the week of Jan. 3 and extended the time frame as it “continue(s) to monitor the broader environment,” it said.
The return-to-office rewind comes as N.C. institutions from colleges to record stores are closing down or changing plans amid an unprecedented spike in COVID cases, caused by the highly infectious omicron variant.
Bank of America was one of the first major Charlotte companies to open up its offices during the pandemic, inviting vaccinated workers back to in-person work in July.
The bank hasn’t mandated that workers receive the vaccine, but said Tuesday that it still “strongly encourages” employees to get all three shots, in addition to informing the bank of their vaccination status.
The bank also told workers that, for every employee that provides their coronavirus booster status or gets their booster by Jan. 31, it will donate $100 to local food banks. Employees can also look out for onsite booster clinics later this month.
Bank of America is one of Charlotte’s largest employers, with about 16,000 workers in the city.
Omicron overwhelms businesses
Local firms large and small have had to shift their plans as infection rates rise.
Over the holidays, Wells Fargo postponed its return to office plans indefinitely. The bank originally planned to bring workers back around Labor Day, eventually pushing back the date three times to Jan. 10 before calling off those plans.
The bank is another one of Charlotte’s biggest employers, with more than 27,000 workers here.
Charlotte businesses like Lunchbox Records and NoDa Bodega have temporarily closed in the last two weeks due to COVID-related staffing shortages. They were joined by local restaurant Oak Steakhouse.
As cases reach new highs, doctors — warning that the recent surge in infections has once again strained local hospitals — have encouraged people to get their vaccine and booster shots.
“There will be no avoiding this virus,” Novant Health infectious disease expert Dr. David Priest said this week. “As it becomes endemic, everyone will eventually have antibodies in their system to it — through either getting infected or getting vaccinated against it.”
This story was originally published January 7, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
