By Collin Eaton and Konrad Putzier
Employees of Phillips 66 got the message in mid-May.
The Houston-based oil refiner couldn't have a viable business if
people didn't return to their daily commutes, Chief Executive Greg
Garland said in an internal video seen by The Wall Street Journal.
Phillips 66 would have to do its part.
"If we in the energy business are reluctant to go back to the
office, why should other people go back? How can we get our economy
going again?" he said in the video.
By early June, Phillips 66 had recalled the majority of its
employees to its main Houston office, which houses around 2,300
people. It has stayed mostly full as Texas has emerged as a hot
spot for new infections that have strained the state's hospital
system. Employees at the company have been discussing what they
describe as lax safety protocols on issues like masks and an
onerous approval process to work from home, according to several
people familiar with the conversations.
Phillips 66 spokesman Dennis Nuss said the company has
continuously updated protocols based on direction from the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, state and local guidance and
employee feedback, and he didn't dispute Mr. Garland's video
message. The company has said its federal designation as critical
to U.S. infrastructure exempts it from state rules on workplace
capacity. Phillips 66 "understands that some employees have
concerns" and made accommodations for high-risk employees and
caregivers of high-risk family members to work from home, Mr. Nuss
said.
"We firmly believe that we have a safe workplace which allows us
to continue with an essential business for the nation," he said.
"The practices put in place at Phillips 66 demonstrate that it is
possible to both reopen many of our businesses while protecting the
health and safety of the workforce."
As parts of the U.S. economy attempt to reopen, companies and
institutions are taking various approaches to getting people back
to work as coronavirus infections surge across the U.S. With more
than 3.3 million confirmed cases nationwide and a death toll
topping 135,000, employers say they are operating under
unprecedented circumstances with no universal guidelines, making it
difficult to balance workers' safety and financial exigencies after
months of inactivity. The result is a segment of the workforce
ranging from baseball players to bankers who say they feel undue
pressure to report for duty.
Employees of Crédit Agricole Group received an email on June 8
from Marc-Andre Poirier, senior regional officer for the Americas
at the financial firm's corporate and investment-banking unit,
saying that all New York City employees would start returning to
the office in phases beginning on June 15. Some would be told to
return full-time while others would rotate in and out of the office
in assigned groups, according to the email, which was viewed by the
Journal.
Employees with pre-existing medical conditions were told to
contact human resources. One employee who went through the bank's
process of asking not to return to the office due to an elevated
health risk was told the bank saw no reason for him not to return,
according to an email viewed by the Journal. If he decided his
health risk prevented him from returning, he was told, he could use
vacation days, request unpaid time off or apply for short-term
disability leave.
"There's pressure for people to go in," said another employee.
Aside from health risks, the return process created logistical
challenges. Employees who were supposed to return on June 15 were
notified days before, leaving parents with little time to arrange
for child care.
A document titled "Frequently Asked Questions" attached to Mr.
Poirier's June 8 email said that with respect to child care, "It is
each employee's responsibility to make sure he or she is able to
come back to work when required to do so."
A Crédit Agricole spokeswoman said the firm has made every
effort to protect its employees during the pandemic. She said it is
closely regulating the number of employees in the office and
conducting health screenings by using questionnaires and on-site
nurses. She added the firm doesn't comment on the private health of
its employees but that it is complying with all laws related to
employee health, privacy and safety.
Since Phillips 66 began calling workers back to work, Covid-19
cases in its home state have surged. Texas has reported a total
275,058 positive cases as of Tuesday, with about 77% of those
emerging since the end of May, according to the state's health
department. The state also hit a record in new daily cases Tuesday,
with a single-day increase of 10,745, the data show.
Several other large energy companies in Houston, including
Chevron Corp., BP PLC, Royal Dutch Shell PLC's U.S. subsidiary
Shell Oil Co. and Total SA, have kept most of their employees
working remotely throughout the pandemic, with some pulling those
who had returned to offices back home as the fourth-largest U.S.
city became a coronavirus hot spot.
Phillips 66's Mr. Garland said in the May video that employees
had proved they could work remotely, but staying home until a
vaccine was available wasn't an option for the economy, the energy
industry or the company. The effects of the pandemic could cost the
company $3.2 billion in the first half of the year, he said. In
addition, he said limiting workers to teleconferences and video
meetings would make it impossible to tap into the creativity and
productivity generated by office encounters.
The company has had 39 cases of Covid-19 at its Houston
headquarters so far, representing less than 2% of the workforce
there, according to an internal dashboard viewed by the
Journal.
Mr. Nuss, the spokesman, said Phillips 66 has monitored,
isolated or quarantined employees as necessary. As of July 10, it
hadn't seen any evidence of workplace spread "when employees adhere
to our protection practices," and contact tracing shows most
positive cases result from exposures outside the headquarters
office. None of the known cases have resulted in hospitalizations,
he said.
When its office reopened, Phillips 66 didn't require employees
to wear masks in several common areas until late June, employees
said. In mid-June, when Harris County ordered businesses to mandate
face coverings, the company said in an email viewed by the Journal
that the order applied to businesses that provided goods and
services directly to the public, which the company doesn't do at
its corporate headquarters.
When the county raised its coronavirus threat level to the most
severe near the end of the month, the company told employees in an
email it wouldn't be changing its office staffing levels. It
adjusted its policy on masks to require all employees and
contractors to wear face coverings in common areas, when people
weren't sitting at their desks or in meetings where social
distancing was inadequate.
Employees said some managers have encouraged workers not to
criticize leadership decisions.
"We are unaware of any such instructions or directives by
individual managers," Mr. Nuss said. The company also "rejects any
suggestion that Phillips 66 discourages the input of its employees,
positive or negative, " he said.
Since March, Mr. Nuss said, the company's emergency operations
center has routinely evaluated and adjusted its plans and protocols
based on employee feedback and authorities' guidance. The company
has surveyed employees, who get weekly updates from executives
through internal videos, podcasts and virtual meetings. It also has
a social-distancing assessment tool, a mobile app for health
screening and an email address for employee feedback.
Employees who live with or are themselves medically vulnerable
can seek the company's high-risk designation to work remotely,
after submitting documentation from their health-care providers, in
line with the Americans With Disabilities Act, Mr. Nuss said. Many
employees who have requested that status were identified and have
worked from home, he said.
In internal communication to employees on the company's pandemic
pay policy, Phillips 66 said primary caregivers of children
attending closed schools or day care would be able to work remotely
for an additional workweek to find alternate child care following a
business unit's transition back to the office. Employees unable to
work remotely could take up to one week of paid time off to find
alternate child care.
Mr. Nuss said company officials are reviewing the policy and
"are mindful of the upcoming school year next month." Texas
education officials said last week they plan for schools to open,
with opportunities for some virtual instruction and the expectation
that closures could become necessary.
--Patrick Thomas contributed to this article.
Write to Collin Eaton at collin.eaton@wsj.com and Konrad Putzier
at konrad.putzier@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 15, 2020 10:14 ET (14:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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