San Francisco Mayor Breed Announces Pledge to Bring Workers Back Downtown
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Mayor London Breed on Thursday announced plans to commit to returning all city and county employees to in-person work starting next Monday, with workers from other SF companies following suit.
The announcement was made in conjunction with a number of San Francisco business leaders, who are also committed to the plan.
According to a release issued by Mayor Breed's office, the "Welcome Back to SF" pledge was formulated in partnership with the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and business leaders as a way to implement a return to in-person work policies as the omicron surge subsides.
"It's really about getting back to business, getting more people down there. And also jumpstarting our economy and making the city feel like it's alive again," Breed told KPIX.
The release noted that San Francisco is poised to welcome workers back to the office one of the highest vaccinated cities in the country.
"The Omicron surge tested and proved the efficacy of vaccines—despite a peak case rate 6.5 times the peak of the largest previous surge in January 2021, San Francisco's COVID mortality rate during the same period was less than half what it was in January 2021 and even lower amongst vaccinated individuals," the statement read.
The two years of mostly remote work policies at San Francisco companies located in the Financial District, East Cut, Union Square, Yerba Buena, Civic Center, and Mission Bay neighborhoods has hurt local small businesses in those area due to the reduced foot traffic and number of people working there, reducing the level of economic recovery that of other neighborhoods have enjoyed.
According to San Francisco officials, the city and county workers who have largely been telecommuting since the start of the omicron surge, are scheduled to return to the office in varied capacities beginning Monday, March 7.
The release said private companies committing to participate in the the "Welcome Back to SF" pledge include Bank of America, Blackrock, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, FibroGen, Gap, the Golden State Warriors, Google, HOK, Invitae, JP Morgan Chase, Kilroy, Mastercard, Meta, Microsoft, Orrick, Salesforce, the San Francisco Giants, the San Francisco Symphony, SPUR, Uber, United Airlines, University of California San Francisco, Visa, and Wells Fargo.
"By committing to San Francisco, these businesses and many more are investing in this city and what makes it special – the people who live and work here," Mayor Breed said in the release. "We are excited to welcome people back to downtown to work, to dine, and to experience the arts and culture that make this city special."
Some of the companies who are participating in the "Welcome Back to SF" pledge gave KPIX 5 updates on their RTO plans.
Google will move to a hybrid work week on April 4, giving employees the rest of March to transition into their new routines.
Meta's offices are currently at 50% capacity, but will open fully on March 28, according to a company spokesperson.
Wells Fargo will begin to return to a hybrid model starting on March 14.
"Our offices are open. We have hundreds and soon-to-be thousands of employees coming to Salesforce Tower daily. We're thrilled to see our offices buzzing again," a Salesforce spokesperson told KPIX.
JP Morgan Chase started returning to a more normal, rotational in-office schedule in early February, with some employees there full time, and others working a hybrid schedule.
Bank of America has gradually brought employees back, and the majority have already returned to the office at this point, according to a company spokesperson.
President and CEO of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Rodney Fong told KPIX they are excited to have companies and employees returning to San Francisco.
"We have tons of small businesses that are greatly affected by this, and again, will benefit by folks coming back to the office," Fong said. "With tourism increasing and employees coming back to the office, we're going to start to see downtown San Francisco be very different than it looked a month ago."
San Francisco has also partnered with a number of downtown stakeholders to curate a series of events scheduled during the last week of March as part of efforts to welcome workers back downtown. SF officials said more details on those events will be announced soon.
Max Darrow contributed to this story.