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The workers who were ordered to return to the League headquarters resisted, arguing that the reopening was hasty and that in some respects they were in an “impossible situation”.
By Kate Kelly and Ken Belson
Almost in the world of sports, the N.F.L. He promised to celebrate his 2020 season as planned even as the pandemic forces other sports leagues to cancel or postpone games and build evolved independent communities to play their seasons.
But the league’s efforts to meet its ambitious schedule have caused really extensive interference. First, more than a hundred players and staff tested positive for coronavirus. Dozens of other players have to take time off this season to decrease their threat of infection.
And now, some N.F.L. Office staff resist an order back to the league’s headquarters in Manhattan, saying the reopening was rushed and not fully considered, according to two staff members and an internal email. Almost everyone has been ordered to start spending at least some time in the workplace from August 17.
In a letter sent Wednesday to Commissioner Roger Goodell that was reviewed through the New York Times, representatives of an internal organization, Parents Initiative Network, said that “many of us continue to struggle with the prospect of returning to the workplace right in the middle. The organization stated that its members had “underlying fitness problems, intellectual fitness problems, childcare problems, a medically fragile circle of family members, and the list continues.”
League officials said concessions will be made for staff with physical fitness issues or the family circle. But the parent network also questioned this. The N.F.L. calls for staff who want to continue to operate remotely to discuss these programs with human resources representatives. Workers stated that this requirement “puts our peers in a situation” because of their preference for maintaining their privacy and that of their circle of family members on matters of physical and intellectual fitness, among other reasons.
N.F.L. Staff dealt well with a variety of problems while running remotely, the letter says, adding oversight of the annual project, developing a plan for coronavirus tracking, and creating new relationships with sponsors. Giving workers more flexibility to continue running remotely, according to the letter, would emphasize that “the ” F” in the NFL also means “family”.
Dasha Smith, the league’s human resources manager, said in an interview that many workers had expressed considerations, adding uncertainty about the reopening of schools and child care issues. He said the league had welcomed all those who had asked for flexibility to return, and that the only way for workers to cope with their human resources considerations.
Smith stated that staff will only want to return to the workplace a few days a week, and that one of the most valuable facets of being in the workplace is the ability to have spontaneous interactions with co-workers than to make plans in advance.
“What we miss so much is those five-minute ad hoc conversations that are very difficult to do remotely,” he said.
At the end of June, the N.F.L. brought about 25% of its normal paint force to its main workplace at 345 Park Avenue in Manhattan, where about 800 people paint. Workers at their workplaces in Culver City, California, and Laurel, New Jersey, followed another schedule. Now, league officials have prepared the paintings for a more complete return of the painters to Park Avenue, starting with those who have their own workplaces on August 17 and following those who paint in the booths on August 24. At the social distance, more than part of the workplace staff will be provided any day, with painters alternating the days.
Updated August 24, 2020
Here’s what happens as the global game slowly comes to life:
The return was announced on July 31 in an email from Goodell requesting a return to the office, especially since the players were invited to show up at the education camp.
“As our groups and players prepare for the season, it is imperative that we also increase our physical presence in the office,” Goodell wrote in the email, the copy of which was reviewed by The Times.
In his reaction to the parent network on Thursday, the Commissioner stated that many workers had been entering the workplace since late June and “felt that our productivity was higher from being here.” He said workers at the league’s satellite workplaces had also returned to the workplace “without incident.”
The fight at the league headquarters occurs when thousands of players across the country return to their team’s premises. The league and the players’ union spent months negotiating tactics to reduce the threat of infection to players, coaches and team staff by approving plans that included reconfigured locker rooms, reduced schedules, and extensive testing of all employees. Players were also allowed to skip the season without penalty. The season is scheduled to begin on September 10 with the Kansas City Chiefs playing at home against the Houston Texans.
Unlike players, league headquarters staff, as well as individual teams, are not syndicated, so they have less influence on negotiating race conditions. In this sense, the efforts of the league to satisfy the wishes of its staff, that is, parents, reflect the demanding situations faced by many companies. The league is also aware of complaints that it does not treat women and has worked in recent years to increase the number of women at its headquarters and teams.
In May, the league fired painters who may not simply do their work in the house or those whose paintings were particularly reduced. The league has also cut the salaries of the highest-paid painters, Goodell added.
Goodell now joins the ranks of CEOs, restaurateurs, school principals, and other New York-area business leaders looking to manage their workplaces in the worst public fitness crisis of recent times. Tech giant Google said most of its workers would not return to its U.S. offices, adding New York, until the summer of 2021. New York schools plan to experiment with a combination of distance learning and distance learning. Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and other banks have maintained skeletal staff in their offices since the pandemic first shook the city, with combined results.
Employees who paint in N.F.L. Manhattan headquarters, where task descriptions range from payroll and time control to communications, legal paintings, and monetary transactions, now face the same considerations as staff in other regions who have experienced giant Covid-19 outbreaks. They are wary of public transport, irritated by the concept of dressing in a mask in the workplace all day while doing much of their affairs through teleconferences, and are concerned about the choice of health problems or infecting vulnerable members of the circle of relatives. . Now, some N.F.L. Employees feel divided between staying at home for their non-public well-being and informing the workplace to ensure the safety of their tasks, according to two existing employees and the parent’s netpaintings letter.
The return to school in New York is also the same day that the new football season begins, meaning some N.F.L. Parents at the league headquarters are likely to be the busiest at work, as do juggling limited face-to-face course schedules or supervising the distance learning circular. And unlike many other cities, which plan to run school remotely this fall, New York schools plan to reopen many academics one to three days a week in physical classrooms, complicating child care schedules.
The N.F.L. prepared a detailed plan to protect workers returning to their offices. The cells have been spaced, the photocopiers will have to be cleaned after each use and the arrows on the floor dictate the routes to be traversed. Workers use a virtual app daily to answer questions about their exposure to the virus and frame temperature, and the pedal buttons will open doors. “We’ve been thinking a lot about this,” said Smith, human resources director.
However, some painters were concerned about the news. In a cross-call monday, Smith said he had won three hundred requests from painters about the chat function, ranging from requests for explanation of security protocols to expressions of fear about the effect of non-return. The question was whether the $75 per day refund of the league for employing car sharing facilities to get to the paintings or refunding $30 per day for parking was beneficial enough, two participants said. Others wondered how to deal with child care issues at a time when school had not yet begun.
Questions were also raised about whether workers would be fired for entering, participants said. League officials said no.
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