‘Major change’: Las Vegas plans workforce return on March 15

Las Vegas plans to bring its employees back to work on March 15, making it potentially the first major city in Nevada to chart a path toward a return to in-person work.

In a memo sent to the city’s workforce on Tuesday, City Manager Jorge Cervantes revealed that his intention is to have all remote-working employees called back to full-time, in-person work starting next month.

“I know this return to work may be a major change for those of you who’ve been able to work from home,” he wrote in the memo, according to a copy obtained by the Review-Journal.

Roughly a year after some 2,700 city workers found their jobs and routines suddenly in flux as the pandemic struck, the announcement of a plan to bring them physically back purposefully gave them a six-week head start to prepare, according to Cervantes.

He said that nearly half of all city employees have been vaccinated while more have appointments to receive their shots, and that the proposed timeline would “allow each of us to receive the required number of doses and build the necessary immunity,” according to the memo.

Since the immunization is not necessary, Cervantes noted that the willingness to receive it is instrumental to safety for employees and their families.

“As more vaccines become available, we look to include your older family members as well,” he wrote.

The rollout of vaccinations for city employees, part of the “frontline community support” prioritization lane, has thus far gone “so smoothly,” according to Cervantes.

But as employees prepare to return to work, there will be notable difficulties, including for parents of students engaged in distance learning. Cervantes vowed that the city would offer as much assistance as possible, however, through its Vegas Strong Academy programs, which act as child-care options that support virtual learning.

“Despite these challenges however, I believe our organization can best serve our community when we’re all physically in the workplace full-time,” he wrote, adding that the city would also make resources available through its employee assistance program.

Meanwhile, none of the other major governments in Southern Nevada have yet arrived at a firm timeline to return to work, officials for North Las Vegas, Henderson and Clark County said Wednesday.

Contact Shea Johnson at sjohnson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272. Follow @Shea_LVRJ on Twitter.