Tuesday Topic: Omicron Exacerbating Everything

We have 10% of our staff out due to having Covid or being affected by it.  In the past we have had to temporarily close two branches for a few days due to staffing shortages.  Our county is at a new high for positive cases.  We discussed paying an incentive for vaccinations, but met resistance to that idea, so we abandoned it.  We were paying everyone for their Covid-related absences without them using any of their PTO, but we stopped that in October in the hopes it would encourage more to take the vax.  Today, since vaxed people are now getting Covid, we may revisit that decision.

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Mary Fowler
CEO
The Peoples Bank
Magnolia, AR
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-03-2022 12:05
From: Barb Rehm
Subject: Tuesday Topic: Omicron Exacerbating Everything

Welcome back! I hope your holidays were fun, safe, and restful. Before we jump into our Tuesday Topic, let's catch up with some recent, big headlines. First, Jelena McWilliams resigned, effective Feb. 4, so get ready for Marty Gruenberg's third stint as acting FDIC chair. (Did you know Gruenberg's term expired three years ago?) Second, the community bank leverage ratio reverted to 9% on Jan. 1. And finally, the next Fed Vice Chair for Supervision may be Sarah Bloom Raskin, the former Maryland banking commissioner, Fed governor, and Treasury Deputy Secretary.

Apologies for kicking off 2022 with a post about COVID-19 but the omicron variant is side-lining so many employees that some banks are being forced to close branches (access a second, similar story here) while many more are pushing back the date – yet again – on which bank staff will return to the office. An appeals court lifted a judicial stay of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration set new dates by which employers must come into compliance with the vaccine mandate and testing requirements. (The mandate requires employers with 100 or more employees to require their employees be vaccinated or tested weekly for COVID-19. Unvaccinated employees are required to wear a mask except when alone in a private office. The court's decision is likely to be appealed and this question is expected to land before the Supreme Court.)

Is your bank facing staffing shortages due to the virus? How are you coping? Have you had to curtail branch service? If vaccination is a controversial issue among your workforce, how are you responding? Please share your experience, as it's likely to help another bank facing similar challenges.

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Barb Rehm
Senior Managing Director
IntraFi Network
Arlington VA
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