Booster Doze Compulsary for Facebook Employees
Though the company has announced a delay in opening offices for its employees, but has made it mandatory for all to return to offices after taking booster shots. The technology behemoth also said it is postponing fully opening offices until late March.
The technology giant, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, said Monday that, beginning March 28, employees who meet eligibility guidelines to receive the shots would need to show proof of a booster vaccination to use its offices.
“Boosters provide increased protection,” a Meta spokesman said. “Given the evidence of booster effectiveness, we are expanding our vaccination requirement to include boosters.”
Meta had planned for its U.S. offices to fully reopen in late January. The company previously told the most of its U.S. staff that they can do their jobs remotely, if desired, or temporarily push back a return by an additional three to five months.
The latest delay means a number of employees at Meta, and other white-collar companies, will have worked remotely for about two years since the World Health Organization’s 2020 pandemic declaration. Many companies had hoped to bring workers back in January, but the rapid rise in Covid-19 cases over the past few weeks has led many employers to again close offices, or to indefinitely pause reopening plans. Executives across the corporate landscape have said that it will be increasingly difficult to bring people back to offices after employees have grown so accustomed to doing their jobs from their homes.
“We understand that the continued uncertainty makes this a difficult time to make decisions about where to work, so we’re giving more time to choose what works best for them,” said Janelle Gale, a vice president of human resources at Meta.
