Workers are back in offices — and so are the bedbugs

More workers are heading into the office with laptops, lattes — and, in some cases, bedbugs.

Google sent a memo over the weekend informing New York City employees that it was treating its Chelsea campus offices for the pests.

The company's Real Estate & Workplace Services team "was recently informed of a possible bed bug issue at our Chelsea campus," the Sunday memo, acquired by Business Insider, said. "Today, exterminators inspected the NYC-9TH, Chelsea Market, 8510, and Pier 57 buildings with a sniffer dog and found credible evidence of their presence. Initial treatment has been completed on the affected floors of the Chelsea campus."

For a time during the pandemic, workers logging on from home didn't have to worry about creepy-crawlies in their cubicles. Now, as more employees return to the office, bedbugs are coming along for the ride.

"These are what we tend to call 'take-your-bedbug-to-work events,'" said Gil Bloom, an entomologist who is president of Standard Pest Management in New York. "They're primarily hitchhiking, unfortunately, from home environments" via items like backpacks and clothing.

Bedbug issues in New York haven't reached the level they were prior to the pandemic — but there's been an uptick in sightings at commercial locations since life began returning to normal, Bloom told Business Insider.

Offices aren't immune

Google isn't the only employer to deal with this issue. Earlier this year, bedbugs were discovered at the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation office, and staff from the affected area had to leave while the building underwent treatment, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

In 2017, BuzzFeed's Manhattan headquarters similarly had to get bedbug treatment. Hotels and airlines have also had to deal with the wingless insects.

New York City ranked second among the most bedbug-infested cities in 2018, dropped to fifth place in 2021, and climbed to third in 2023, based on data from 300 Terminix branches in the US. As of June, New York is back in second place.

Bloom said when companies suspect bedbugs are in a workspace, exterminators typically bring in detection dogs to confirm their existence and identify affected areas. While an employee might accidentally bring bedbugs into work, offices usually lack the ideal infrastructure for the insects to settle in.

"There's no great hotspot," Bloom said, referring to the lack of beds in most offices. "So it's like finding a bedbug in a haystack."

Identifying the location of the outbreak allows companies to narrow down the treatment area and resolve the problem, Bloom said. He describes such instances as "introductions," rather than full-blown "infestations."

A liability issue for companies

While bedbugs might be unpleasant, Jerome Goddard, a medical entomologist at Mississippi State University, told Business Insider that there is little to no transmission of disease from the pests. Often, the biggest challenge is dealing with the ick factor.

"The main effects are emotional and psychological," Goddard said. "And I'm not saying that's not real."

Companies, however, could face legal consequences if they don't take steps to kill the bugs.

Employers have a duty to provide a safe workplace per OSHA requirements, and failing to protect workers could create a liability, said Andrea Whalen, a senior HR business strategist at consulting firm Clark Schaefer Strategic HR.

Bloom said companies don't usually provide extermination services to individual employees unless there's a repeat situation and the office is trying to find the source to avoid future introductions to the office.

Whalen told Business Insider that companies should establish clear, written rules that cover different kinds of infestations or outbreaks. Those policies could include considerations about paying workers if they have to be sent home while pest-control professionals treat a worksite.

Because employees have a "moral and an ethical responsibility" to tell their employers if they have bedbugs, policies should include a way for employees to report an issue confidentially, she said.

"You want a way for an employee to come forward and say, 'I have this issue,' so that it protects the rest of the team," Whalen said, adding that it should be addressed with "empathy and discretion."

After all, she said, places where people often think of outbreaks occurring — like hotels, schools, and hospitals — are themselves workplaces.

"It can happen to anyone," Whalen said. "It can happen to any place."

Have a tip? We want to hear from you. Reach out to the reporters via email at [email protected] and [email protected], or via the secure messaging app Signal at aalt.19 or tparadis.70.