Macy's CEO says he wants Biden to push back the vaccine mandate deadline as the retailer scrambles to hire more staff

• Macy's CEO Jeff Gennette said he wants Biden's vaccine mandate to be delayed, per NYT.
• Gennette told The Times that he'd prefer the mandate to kick in around February 2022.

Macy's CEO Jeff Gennette says he wants President Joe Biden to push back the vaccine mandate deadline as the retailer tries to hire more workers amid the labor shortage, The New York Times reported.

The White House announced in early November that the rule requiring all employees of companies with more than 100 workers to be fully vaccinated or take weekly tests will take effect on January 4.

Macy's would prefer the government to implement the mandate in the first quarter of 2022, which starts in February for retailers, Gennette said in an interview with The Times.

Gennette told the outlet that he supported Biden's order but "would just love to have it on a timetable that works for us." He added: "We need more time."

The news comes at a time when US businesses, large and small, are suffering from a severe shortage of staff. Employers struggling to find workers are concerned that the vaccine mandate will deter much-needed new hires, The Times reported.

"We have a lot of stores that have a lot of openings," Gennette also told The Times. "Any ruling that we have to mandate those colleagues be vaccinated prior to Christmas is just going to exacerbate our labor shortage going into a really critical period for us."

Macy's has called on its corporate staff to volunteer for shift work in stores over the holidays as the labor shortage bites. It also said it would raise the minimum wage of its US employees — more than 100,000 workers — to $15 an hour by May.

Macy's has only asked its corporate staff to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or test negative before entering its offices, Gennette told The Times.

Macy's wants to employ 76,000 full- and part-time workers this season, Gennette told The Times. He added that the company started offering referral bonuses worth up to $500 to employees who managed to recruit a friend or family member.