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HP Impose New Safety Measures as Delta Variant Spreads.
HPE follows other tech giants in mandating that employees are double vaccinated while Dell pushes back office globally amid spread of Delta variant.
Dell and HPE have imposed new safety measures which will affect employees’ ability to return to offices amid the accelerating spread of the Covid Delta variant globally.In a memo to employees, Dell COO Jeff Clarke said that the company will delay the reopening of many of its offices due to the spread of the variant. The vendor originally intended to reopen many of is sites on 7 September.
Clarke said that Dell assigns its locations under “green” or “red” status based on the rate of Covid cases, deaths and how many individuals have been vaccinated.
He said that several sites which were labelled as “green” locations have turned red as a result of the a surge of the Delta variant across its sites in the US as well as Europe and Asia.
Dell has not set out a new date for the reopening of its offices, with Clarke claiming that the company is “monitoring the situation closely”.
Offsite gatherings with team members or customers in “red” locations requires approval from Dell’s executive leadership team as well as the completion of an event risk assessment form. Onsite gatherings are not allowed in red locations, added Clarke.
“We know some of you will be disappointed by this update. We’re all excited to see each other in person again. Others may be a bit relieved, given the prevalence and unknowns of the Delta variant,” he said.
It’s been a long, hard road, and we hoped we wouldn’t find ourselves back here. But the data and science tell us this is the right decision for now. It also reinforces that vaccines help. I encourage you to get vaccinated, where vaccines are available.
Meanwhile, HPE has moved to mandate that its employees and any visitors are fully vaccinated before entering any of its sites or attending business events.
In a tweet yesterday, CEO Antonio Neri said he “didn’t take the decision lightly”.
“HPE will be requiring all team members, contractors, and visitors to be fully vaccinated as a condition of entering our sites and attending business events where legally permitted,” he said.
“Throughout this pandemic, we have continually assessed the ever-changing dynamic, we have addressed what we can control and we have adapted. It is now clear that COVID-19 is going to be with us for a while, and that getting back to normal will take more than masks and distancing.”
Due to the spread of the Delta variant, the US has seen a 23 per cent jump in Covid cases, according to data from the World Health Organisation, with 726,160 confirmed new cases within the last seven days.
The two-week rolling daily average of new Covid cases has shot up by 165 per cent to 8,533 in Texas – currently the second worst hit state in the US aside from Florida according to John Hopkins University data – as the Delta variant spreads across the state especially in the Austin area.
Dell has its headquarters in Round Rock, Texas while HPE announced last year that it intends to move its head office to Houston, Texas and build a new 440,000 square foot campus to accommodate its existing 2,600-strong workforce in the area.
The safety measures from HPE come after other tech giants including Microsoft and Google adopted same policy in requiring proof of vaccination before entering their offices.
Google boss Sundar Pichai said that the policy will be rolled out across the US as well as other regions in the coming months.
“Getting vaccinated is one of the most important ways to keep ourselves and our communities healthy in the months ahead,” he said.
Microsoft meanwhile said that the earliest possible date for reopening offices is 4 October 2021, but said proof of vaccination will be required for employees and guests from September.
https://www.channelweb.co.uk/news/4035723/dell-hpe-impose-safety-measures-delta-variant-spreads
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