CEO Richard Gonzalez was confronted with the success of the pharmaceutical company Abby in an email on August 27 that the U.S. Outlines the process of bringing thousands of employees back to work.
Gonzalez said “cross-functional collaboration” is the foundation of ABV’s high performance, adding that employees need to “preserve and nurture our culture so that we can move forward, climb and help patients in the future.”
All of this means “going back to our workplace,” he said, according to an email he saw by CNBC. The company expects employees – who also say they are able to work from home – to report to office fees to promote creativity and innovation under its current phase of work plan, according to interviews with current three employees. , Anonymous complaints in public forum and internal company documents.
But not all employees feel the same. That’s a problem that is starting to play out in ABV and other workplaces across America. Some ABVV workers say they are concerned that the company is pursuing profits for safety and the health of its U.S. employees and their families. At the same time, they say they feel pressured to come inside. Located in Lake Bluff, Illinois, the company is one of the largest drug manufacturers in the world with 47,000 global employees. According to its website, more than 12,000 employees work on U.S. ABVs in four states.
AbbVie is not alone. Epic Systems, an electronic medical records provider in the Midwest, also asked its employees to return to work in the fall – to preserve its culture. Which led to employee feedback and questions from the local health department. Epic recently agreed to return to plans to return to work.
Days after President Donald Trump declared the epidemic a national emergency – on March 17 the ABB closed its doors in one of its U.S. locations known as the eruption phase. According to an internal submission reviewed by CNBC, the company brought back essential lab workers, manufacturing personnel and some senior leaders on a limited basis during the second phase period, which began in early June and on alternate days when certain teams were on site. According to.
Phase Three workers, including R&D, sales and marketing staff, were asked to return from July 13 when the company resumed the schedule of daily office fees for all workers on site. Three employees told CNBC that many have decided not to return.
According to an August1 letter from US President Jeff Stewart and other company leaders reviewed by CNBC, the three employees of the phase have now been asked to return to office fees on Monday.
The email states, “We expect to return to pre-covid, regular on-site schedules and working weeks.” The fourth phase will bring the remaining employees back to the office – the company has not yet made that decision.
Stuart said Abby has “supportive childcare and e-learning resources” for people with children at home. The company also implemented safety protocols, including partitions, hand sanitizer stations, signage, increased ventilation for video-based conversations in conference rooms, and webcams.
ABV declined to comment to CNBC on its plans to return to business, or provide any further information about its procedures to protect employees. The company has not answered questions about whether there is any flexibility in its policies, especially for those who have underlying medical conditions that make them more susceptible to the virus or those who live with other susceptible people.
Other drug manufacturers have announced flexible work for domestic policies. Novartis, for example, said its workers could return voluntarily without any pressure to do so. Tylenol makers will bring Johnson & Johnson’s employees “back into the gloves because it’s safe to do,” spokeswoman Lisa Canellos told CNBC. The company declined to say when its return-to-work program would begin. Canellos said it is currently “offering flexible work arrangements for those in need based on dependent care or underlying health conditions.”
Last year, ABV agreed to buy Botox manufacturer Allergan for $ 2 billion as it has moved further into medical aesthetics. In addition to Humira, one of the best-selling drugs in the world, the company was under pressure to diversify its portfolio of drugs, as it faced new competition from competitors. The company has announced a global deal with China’s i-Mab to develop and commercialize new cancer treatments.
The Chicago area, where ABVY is located, has seen a decline in new cases of coronavirus in recent cohorts. But according to the City of Chicago, the area’s so-called positivity rate is maintained at more than ub%, and the statewide outbreak isn’t so bad as to put Illinois residents on New York and New Jersey’s restricted travel list. More than 256,000 people have tested positive in the state so far and more than 8,400 people have died. The outbreak of the virus is starting in the Midwest, health officials said, creating hot spots in various states.
The relentlessness of this outbreak has prompted ABV and elsewhere employees to take public transport, which for many depends on it or is often unavoidable for the crammed company shuttle to come to work, employees said.
“There are a lot of employees who don’t feel comfortable taking the metro,” said one employee, who asked to remain anonymous because he did not have the authority to speak to the press. “We think the consequences could come if we don’t go inside.”
ABV plans to do a canvas to see what employees feel. It is launching an employee formal employee survey on September 22 about its workplace and culture during Covid-19, according to an internal email seen by CNBC that was sent to staff earlier this month. The company said it would announce the results in November – after many U.S. employees were expected to be at their desks, according to the email.
Speaking to CNBC, the three employees said the survey appeared to be too late, although the results would not be shared for several months after the planned return to the planned fees.
To continue working from home, employees say they need the manager’s approval, but some say they fear defamation if they request it.
“I don’t think I will be fired immediately if I don’t come in,” said another employee, who asked not to be named because they also do not have the right to speak to the press. “But I’m worried I’d be known as a disinfectant.”
Another employee, who declined to be named for the same reason, said: “Many of us are organized thinking this is inappropriate.”
While officers and some managers have office fees, many rank and file employees say they sit in open office fees with cubicles, which studies show that there is a risk of spreading all types of infections, including coronavirus. According to an email, ABVA has told employees to build plastic partitions in an effort to reduce any outrage.
Attorneys say Abby and other employers have a right to their employees’ need to work in the fee, unless they have a condition that would put them in a high-risk group and not be documented – ideally confidential with human resources. Families who need children to stay at home will be eligible for the First Coronavirus Response Act, which requires employers to “provide paid sick leave or extended family or extended medical leave to employees for specific reasons related to COVID-19,” but only 500 To companies with less than employees. ABBV is not among them.
Troy Valdez, a lawyer specializing in the labor and employment law of Quintz Patch Duffy and Bass, said the fear of catching Covid alone could be considered a medical condition in some circumstances.
“But it’s between the employee and his doctor,” he said in an interview. “If an employee has a doctor who will say that this danger is a condition with the limitations associated with it, and the requested residence is to work from home, they (the company) may be involved.”
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