Here’s what reopening means for people who work in Stanislaus County offices
California is set for a large-scale reopening of businesses and other services Tuesday, but Thursday will be the bigger day for office workers.
Offices are not part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s reopening plan, but instead fall under the purview of the state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal-OSHA. It is expected to approve a new workplace rule Thursday.
The rule lets fully vaccinated California workers not wear masks at work and also ends social distancing. Those not vaccinated will still have to wear masks when working indoors or in vehicles.
But because of the administrative process, the changes would have taken effect not until June 28.
In stepped the governor, who on Monday said he will issue an executive order Thursday allowing the Cal-OSHA ruling to take effect immediately.
As for what happens Tuesday, employees at E.&J. Gallo Winery’s Modesto campus had expected no changes anyway. Natalie Henderson, Gallo’s director of corporate public relations, said employees who had been working from home have been able to return to the office since June 1.
Gallo is following all state safety mandates, she said, and many of its 3,500 Modesto-based employees are coming into the office part time as part of a hybrid model.
Having employees back in the office has been a positive experience, Henderson said. “People are enjoying collaborating and being together,” she added.
Employees at Opportunity Stanislaus also have been back in the office for some time, said Amber Edwards, vice president of talent development. The 16-person staff has a large office space and many of the employees have individual offices, making social distancing easy.
Like Gallo, Edwards stressed that Opportunity Stanislaus is continuing to follow all state guidelines and will adjust them accordingly after Cal-OSHA’s ruling.
“We are switching as an organization to be flexible and let people work from home some of the time, even past COVID,” she said, noting that other employers across the region have similar plans.
Edwards said that not only is Opportunity Stanislaus working to model in-office behavior itself, but it’s providing other employers with guidelines for best practices as they return to the physical workspace.
“Even before Gov. Newsom put the restrictions into place, we had resources for businesses telling them, ‘Here’s best practices, what you can do so that you’re not subject to shutdowns on any kind of level,’” she said.
This story was produced with financial support from the Stanislaus Community Foundation, along with the GroundTruth Project’s Report for America initiative. The Modesto Bee maintains full editorial control of this work.
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This story was originally published June 15, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
