New York City Mayor Eric Adams made a statement ordering leaders of major companies in "The Big Apple" they should get their employees back into offices, arguing that empty buildings were impeding the region's pandemic recovery efforts.
Referring to different major banks and tech companies in the city that continue to have delayed return dates, Adams said they could not send mixed messages. He argued that the city cannot keep "kicking the can down the road."
Going Back to Offices
Adams said that he had already met with 100 chief executive officers from the city this week under his scheduled meetings. The New York City mayor talked with officials from both small businesses and large corporations from across the region.
The official used the meeting as a way to get the executives to participate in his summer youth jobs expansion program. Adams also got the officials to urge their employees to go back into the office to stimulate New York's economy.
During a press conference in his first budget presentation, Adams said that it was time for the city to get back. He shared his hopes that within the next few weeks, CEOs will be able to map out a concrete plan of when to get their workers back into offices, as per Bloomberg.
The situation comes after a winter surge of coronavirus cases in the city led by the highly transmissible Omicron variant. The increase in infections dampened employees' return to their officers. In December, the progress had peaked at over 35% and dropped back down to just over 10% in January. The numbers come as the city's seven-day average of new cases reached their pandemic peak.
However, health officials have noted that the spread of the coronavirus has slowed down since and noted that the seven-day average of positive cases in New York was roughly 1,100. New York officials urged Citigroup workers in the region to prepare for coming back to officers last week as Wells Fargo & Co. announced it had plans to bring workers back to their offices in mid-March.
The Washington Post reported, however, that currently, only 28% of workers in the region are going back to their offices in the metro area, based on data from security company Kastle Systems, as of Feb. 9. Adams said now was the time to come back and that he too was going to work amid the threat of the virus.
Vaccine Mandate Deadline
Furthermore, Adams' remarks come after New York City fired more than 1,400 government workers in the region after they refused to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. The list of individuals includes 36 New York Police Department personnel, 25 Fire Department employees, and 914 Department of Education staffers.
The number had dropped considerably by last Friday's vaccine mandate deadline as more workers submitted proof of getting their vaccination shots, said City Hall officials. At some point last week, it was estimated there around 4,000 workers were expected to be fired over their refusal to follow the mandate, the New York Post reported.
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