Disney Employees Ready For A July Return
Walt Disney World is open. Disneyland opens next month. And soon after that, Disney employees will return to offices (after July 4).
In an exclusive, Anthony D’Alessandro of Deadline reported:
We hear on good authority that Disney’s stateside employees can begin returning to their offices after July 4.
It’s just another great sign that with Covid-19 vaccinations underway and cases falling in most states, the entertainment industry is beginning to readjust to some normalcy. We told you last week that WarnerMedia employees were provided notification that they could return in early September.
Disney employees were notified this morning via an internal company video that was emailed out.
A Whole New World…
Meanwhile, while reporting on the story, Sean Nyberg of TheDisInsider.com mused:
With the reduced costs associated with virtual meetings, compared to owning or leasing commercial real estate, no one expects offices across the country will ever resemble what they did prior to the pandemic. It is the beginning of a new normal and Disney appears to show a desire to have at least some of their workforce back in the office.
And Variety added their own reporting to the story, explaining that ViacomCBS is looking to return to offices in July, as well. But joining WarnerMedia, Fox Corp is eyeing a possible September return.
Keep Your Mask Handy
Variety’s Elaine Low also wrote:
Dozens of Hollywood execs predict that entertainment industry players will be returning to a very different workplace than the one they left. ICM Partners, for instance, is spacing out the desks in its open office area, cutting capacity by half and dividing each workstation with plexiglass. Other offices are also asking employees to do self-reported temperature checks and are plotting a mix of shared desks, distanced workstations, and even one-directional hallways, to prevent workers from passing each other in the halls and potentially contaminating the air.
But tell us: Are you back at work? Is your company back in the office? Let us know in the comments.