Citigroup Mandates Employees Be Vaccinated, Return to Office Sept. 13
By Nicholas Rizzi August 11, 2021 11:49 am
reprints![The logo CITI on the facade of a modern building.](https://commercialobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2021/08/GettyImages-491623810.jpg?quality=80&w=755)
Citigroup joined a growing number of firms requiring vaccinations for staff returning to the office and will still require them to come back on Sept. 13.
The bank told staff on Tuesday that they would be required to return to its offices at least two days a week and must be vaccinated to come in, according to a memo posted on LinkedIn.
Despite many other firms pushing back their return-to-work date because of the highly contagious COVID-19 delta variant, Citi will keep the Sept. 13 deadline for its New York-area, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., offices.
“These are our plans as of today, and I assure you if the facts change, we will too,” Sara Wechter, head of human resources for Citi, wrote on LinkedIn. “We are so grateful for how hard our colleagues have continued to work in very challenging times, and for their support as we embark on the next stage of this never-expected journey together.”
While many firms are relying on the honor system to figure out if employees were vaccinated or not, some have started to take a hard line as local governments implement vaccine mandates and coronavirus cases rise because of the delta variant.
Manhattan developers Related Companies and The Durst Organization both told their employees to get vaccinated or get fired, except if they have a religious or medical exemption. But, even with the stricter vaccination requirements, the post-Labor Day return to the office has started to fall apart as companies like Google and Apple push their dates back to October, with Amazon going even further and not requiring staff to come back until Jan. 3, 2022, at the earliest.
Nicholas Rizzi can be reached at nrizzi@commercialobserver.com.