Communications Industry Eyeing Return to the Office
Communications industry companies, law firms and government agencies are looking at returning to the office, with the COVID-19 omicron variant on the wane. The shift coincides with Washington, D.C., dropping its mask mandate and the White House urging companies and agencies to return to work. “COVID-19 no longer needs to dictate how we work,” said a White House COVID-19 Preparedness Plan released Wednesday.
Several communications entities told us they're either aiming re-entry plans to start soon, or discussing doing so. NAB is targeting the week of March 14 to fully transition to a new hybrid work schedule, with employees working from the office at least three days a week, said a spokesperson. D.C.-based NAB employees currently work in-office at least one day a week and may work in the office as many days as they would like. Radio broadcaster Alpha Media is looking at shifting to a “modified” combination of in-office and flexible telework in the next few weeks, CEO Bob Proffitt told us. Comcast said its voluntary reopening, with people voluntarily able to return to the office, runs through March and that office-based employees are expected to start returning to the office starting in April. Intelsat said its post-COVID work environment will be a hybrid of on-site and remote work. A spokesperson emailed that while it "will remain office based … [it] will support greater flexibility for remote work and other alternative work arrangements.”
NTCA's staff will be in the office three days per week starting March 16, emailed Vice President-Strategic Communications Laura Withers. "Given that it's almost been exactly two years since we closed our office, it seems to be a poignant time to kick off our more structured return," Withers said, noting staff has been spending two days per week in the office since last year. CTIA staff will be in-person three days a week starting March 15, a spokesperson said. The Competitive Carriers Association has been in person in the office since September, with a flexible work from home policy, spokesperson said. Spokespersons for various wireless carriers and associations say a few changes are happening as COVID-19 infection rates moderate. At AT&T “some employees are beginning to return to the D.C. office a couple of days a week,” a spokesperson said. “We have not yet announced a new back in office date for all employees, but continue to encourage those who are comfortable returning to do so,” a T-Mobile spokesperson said: “Our offices have been open for a while now to those employees who meet the requirements to be onsite.”
“If there was ever a time we could feel more confident about returning, this would be it,” said Ajay Sethi, associate professor of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin. Sethi said the population has a higher level of immunity than at previous times in the pandemic, COVID-19 numbers are declining, and testing is readily available. “If COVID isn’t spreading in the community, the precautions don’t need to be as much,” he said. Anti-viral medicine that's reliably effective against COVID-19 will soon become easy to access, Sethi said. “That’s a tool we didn’t have six months ago” when the delta variant caused a spike after an apparent lull in the pandemic, Sethi said.
The White House plan told federal agencies to “lead by example” and increase the availability of in-person appointments for April, but reentry policies are currently mixed bag. The FCC is at phase 2 of the agency's reentry plan -- which it entered in December -- with employees allowed to work in-office in small numbers if they wish (see 2111160060). The agency had pulled back on that flexibility and returned to not having employees in-office for a time during the height of omicron but went back to phase 2 a few weeks ago, employees told us. “We are currently in a maximum telework posture and will continue to follow guidance from the CDC and the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force as it relates to mask use,” an FCC spokesperson said. It’s not clear when the agency will move to phase 3, which will require the agency to provide a legitimate business reason to deny employee telework requests. The agency is required to give employees 30 days' notice before it shifts to phase 3. In phase 4 the agency would be fully returned to its pre-COVID-19 operations.
The National Treasury Employees Union -- which represents FCC employees -- said the agency shouldn’t rush to the next phase. White House remarks about returning to in-person work “were not a directive to return to offices immediately but rather reinforced the work agencies have already undertaken to begin the re-entry process,” said Tracy Bridgham, president of the FCC’s chapter of the NTEU, in a statement. “We strongly believe the existing Phase 2 framework should remain in place for a while.” FCC internal numbers “reflect a rising number of employees at the office and so NTEU hopes the FCC will let this evolve naturally in the months ahead,” she said.
Bridgham praised the FCC’s efforts on workplace safety to date, and said the phase 2 framework is allowing employees to figure out what mix of telework and in-office works for their individual situations. “Return-to-office questions” are “deeply personal” for each worker, she said. “We are happy to report that we have heard of very few instances of managers jumping the gun at the FCC by already expecting employees to return to work under this regime.”
Other regulatory or oversight agencies are in various stages of ramping up on-site work.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission had been on a telework schedule that had employees working on-site at least two days a week, which was relaxed with growing concerns about the omicron variant. A spokesperson told us NRC will return to that “project-based telework schedule” starting March 14. He said the expectation is it will remain in that hybrid environment for the foreseeable future. The Federal Railroad Administration said it's starting a transition April 18 that would have a combination of on-site work, expanded use of telework and remote work. It said employees, depending on job responsibilities and staffing, will be allowed to telework two to eight days per pay period.
FAA employees will begin a phased return to the office starting April 11, it told us. The Consumer Product Safety Commission said its personnel at ports, its field officers and its technical experts at the National Product Testing and Evaluation Center in Rockville, Maryland, have been at their regular duty stations since September 2020, and it’s “preparing for the next phase” now that safety protocols allow for more employees on-site. The National Transportation Safety Board said some staffers are working on premises and the majority will return within the next few weeks.
Communications law firms are also looking at shifting their policies, or have already done so. Tuesday was the launch of Wiley’s new hybrid work model, a spokesperson said. “Attorneys may work up to 50% of their time remotely and staff up to two days a week remotely, depending on the requirements of their position.” Wiley has a mandatory vaccine policy, and will continue requiring masks at the office, the spokesperson said. Harris Wiltshire is operating remotely, though employees can come into the office if they want to, as long as they're vaccinated and wear masks in common areas, emailed founding partner Bill Wiltshire. “We hope to reopen later this month but are still evaluating exactly when and on what basis to do so,” he said.
Fletcher Heald is allowing employees to telework at will but examining shifting to a hybrid model, said broadcast attorney Frank Montero. Fletcher Heald is requiring masking in the firm’s hallways, he said. A Latham Watkins spokesperson emailed that as conditions improve, it expects many personnel "will start working more regularly from the office and establish an updated routine by the end of this month." The Federal Communications Bar Association is still teleworking, with one staff member periodically in the office to handle administrative responsibilities, emailed Member Services Administrator Elizabeth Hagerty. The staff of four is “able to consider our individual health needs when making decisions regarding a return to the office,” Hagerty said, and the group doesn’t have a “firm date or plan for fully returning.”