The cosmetics giant, whose brands include Garnier, Lancôme, and Urban Decay, planned to increase its current maximum of 25% of employees at the office to 50%, according to a July email from Stephane Charbonnier, the cosmetics company's chief human resources officer. Unless employees have approved paid-time off or a reason approved by the company, "you will be expected to be onsite if you are assigned by your manager to be onsite," according to the email, which was obtained by CNN.
L'Oreal's offices across the country are instituting similar plans, all of which entail safety protocols such as temperature checks and mandatory facial coverings, the company says.
The requirement to go back into the office hasn't settled well with many of L'Oreal's US employees. CNN spoke with 18 current workers at the French-owned beauty brand, who expressed concerns about health risks of showing up to an office during the pandemic when they felt their jobs could be done from home. The employees questioned the benefits of being in the building: Meetings are still virtual, they said. While the company has said it wants people in the office so that they can collaborate, in one case, an employee said she showed up to work to have no interaction with her team members, who weren't scheduled to be in the office in the same week.
Employees CNN spoke with, who work in office jobs at L'Oreal across the country, asked to remain anonymous out of fear of losing their jobs. The company says it employs more than 12,000 people in 13 states. The company's website says it has five manufacturing facilities and 15 distribution facilities scattered across the country, but the employees who spoke to CNN are strictly part of the corporate side of the company.
The employees said they felt L'Oreal had been unsympathetic when they raised concerns about individual situations with managers and worried the company would retaliate if they didn't show up. Five employees said they were told by either their manager or human resources that they'd be placed on a "non-compliant" list if they chose not to return.
An employee who works at a sales field office for L'Oreal in the Midwest said most of her high profile clients aren't returning to their offices until after the New Year. "You feel like a peon, an ant being marched back to the office in order for HR to check a box to send it up the ladder to prove we're doing as we're instructed to do."
The company said in a statement to CNN, "L'Oréal's plan to cautiously return employees to worksites is guided by one fundamental principle: to protect the health and safety of our employees. Being together is a key ingredient to our culture and essential to the success of our business in a creative industry. As such, we have gradually returned employees to offices in locations around the world under a comprehensive safety plan only when permitted by local governments."
Employees designated as essential workers in industries ranging from healthcare to retail have been reporting to work
