While office employees face a Jan. 14 deadline, branch workers were given a different timeline, though they’ll ultimately have to comply as well. To boost acceptance, the bank has taken measures including bringing in medical experts to educate staff, holding town halls with human-resources leaders and handing out prizes for vaccinated workers. It also offered paid time off to people getting the shot.
The mandate has reverberated across the company: A LinkedIn post by an executive outlining the policy garnered nearly 700 comments. Some employees cheered the firm’s decision and called it a step forward or thanked Citigroup for keeping them and their families safe. But others voiced concerns, arguing this robbed them of freedoms or invaded their privacy.
“I’ve been sitting at home for two years now, I rarely go to the office, my direct reports are states away -- this felt like a huge overreach,” said George Pagano, who spent five years in Citigroup’s operations and technology division before departing in November due to the mandate. “When it comes to promoting the company at the expense of having to threaten to fire people the week after Christmas, it just seemed to be a bit too much.”
In private chat rooms, employees have traded strategies for having exemptions granted, according to interviews with current and former workers. Others have been more public: Ben Shittu, who works in the technology division of Citigroup’s human-resources department in Ireland, made a YouTube video lambasting the mandate.
“I have been compelled to make this video in direct response to the enforcement of a vaccine mandate and possible terminations of core team members and U.S.-based employees within Citigroup,” Shittu said in the video. “For those of you that are extremely concerned or feel like you have been failed by your managers, I would like you to know that you are not alone.”
Shittu said in a LinkedIn message that he has been contacted by scores of Citigroup employees in the U.S. since posting the video. It has been viewed more than 9,400 times.
Vaccine Acceptance
Evidence is growing that vaccine rules haven’t led to major employee defections. Just 3% of employers with mandates in a November survey by Willis Towers Watson said they had a spike in resignations. United Airlines Holdings Inc. and Tyson Foods Inc., two of the earliest large companies to impose similar rules, reported 99% and 96% compliance near their deadlines.
In New York, unions representing members of the police department warned a city mandate would pull thousands of officers off the streets. When the deadline passed, fewer than three dozen were placed on leave.
Still, employers now are contending with one added complication: the rapid spread of the omicron variant. Breakthrough infections have soared, making a mandate less palatable to those workers already hesitant to get the jab.
It also affects deadlines at companies such as Citigroup. If employees tested positive for the disease in recent weeks and received certain therapies, they have to wait 90 days before they can get vaccinated under guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“With omicron, everyone is getting it, even people who are vaccinated and boosted,” said Paul. “That is also now a consideration that employers are thinking about when determining whether they should have a mandatory vaccination policy.”
--With assistance from Steve Dickson.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.