Most of Boston’s 18,000 city employees will return to working from home because of the exponential growth of COVID cases due to Omicron. According to Mayor Michelle Wu, employees will work remotely for two weeks until the situation is more controlled.
While the pandemic seemed more stable a few months ago, most countries are experiencing a high increase of cases because of the Omicron variant. Consequently, companies are making employees return to work from their homes.
Boston City Workers Return to Work From Home
In an email directed to Boston city workers, Mayor Michelle Wu announced that those workers who can perform their tasks remotely could do so from Tuesday, January 4 to January 18. As Omicron cases rise, it’s best for employees to return to remote work temporarily.
“With COVID-19 cases spiking in Boston and across the Commonwealth, we are taking these temporary measures to reduce the risk of transmission and protect our workforce and our communities. Our priority is to keep open the schools and city services that our residents count on every day. I thank all our city workers for their unwavering efforts to serve the public throughout the pandemic.”
Additionally, the City is creating a stricter vaccine mandate for city workers that will take effect on January 15. All employees will have to prove that they have at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. And they will need to be fully vaccinated by February 15. Wu also mentioned in the email:
”The City is temporarily decreasing the number of employees in City buildings to ensure that it can protect the health of its workforce and the public we serve. To do this, the City will be directing certain City employees, who can perform all of their essential work functions remotely, to begin working from home and to remain to do so until Tuesday, January 18, 2022.’’