The worst fears for companies in the credit and collection industry which are still open and allowing employees to come into the office are coming true for Wells Fargo, which has had employees at four different call centers across the country test positive for coronavirus, according to a published report.
Employees at call centers in Oregon, Arizona, Iowa, and North Carolina have all tested positive, and each office continues to remain open, according to the report. Wells Fargo said it could not allow employees to work from home because of government regulations and said it was committed to following social distancing guidelines and would be conducting more thorough cleanings of its offices. It wasn’t until this week when the company started employing social distancing guidelines, according to the report.
“[W]e have taken significant actions to protect employees, including social distancing, staggering staff and shifts and enabling more employees to work from home,” a representative for Wells Fargo said, according to the report.
There have yet to be any confirmed reports of someone working at an office in the credit and collections industry that has tested positive for COVID-19. But there have been complaints that employees from the industry have filed with their state Occupational Health and Safety Administrations about the working conditions at their facilities.
The Wells Fargo call center in Oregon conducts debt collections and one employee said the bank is telling employees to continue making calls to the family members of individuals who have died — some from COVID-19 — and attempting to collect, according to the report.
The published report about the issues at Wells Fargo’s call centers should serve as a cautionary tale for any company navigating its way through this crisis. As with most situations, actions speak louder than words.
