Citigroup will soon start enforcing a "no jab, no job" policy, the first major bank to do so – just as banks scaled back return to office plans due to the new and surging Covid-19 variant Omicron.
In a memo to staff, the New York-based bank warned that employees who remained unvaccinated risked being placed on unpaid leave after January 14 and could be terminated by the end of the month.
The bank is relying on federal policy enacted by the Biden Administration requiring companies with more than 100 employees to require staff to be vaccinated. The US Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on the administration’s authority to impose a vaccine mandate this week.
Citi says more than 90% of its employees are vaccinated. Still, the move would set an aggressive precedent on Wall Street.
The bank said on October 28 that staff would need to be vaccinated as a condition of employment. They had to either submit proof of vaccination or receive an approved medical or religious accommodation or legally required exemption, it said at that time.
The move came as banks grapple with how to safely bring workers back to offices in an attempt to get back to business-as-usual, or as close to it as possible.
But Omicron has upended those plans and pushed back attempts for a return to normality at JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Citi and other firms which have been forced to reassess plans.
Most banks have been able to bring staff back to the office since the summer, slowly increasing the time in the office compared with "WFH". The spike in the new variant, however, has upended that progress in the US, Europe and Asia.
The flexibility reflects the reality that the year is off to a difficult start, said one banker in the US. The surge in new Covid cases had disrupted work, school and travel schedules with knock-on effects across sectors, and banking was no different, he said.
JP Morgan is giving staff the option of working from home during the first two weeks of the year, but said most employees are expected to return to the office for most of the work week, starting in February.
"With the increase in holiday travel and gatherings, we are allowing for more flexibility during the first two weeks of January to work from home (if your role allows) at your manager's discretion,” the bank said in a memo to staff.
Citigroup, which offered employees increased flexibility to work from home in mid-December for the holiday season, extended that option through to the middle of January at least.
Most banks say a vast majority of their staff are vaccinated and have been steadily increasing the amount of time in the office. Leaders at JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have been adamant about ending the WFH era following Covid, or at least shifting the work ratio towards the office. But the latest rise in Covid cases has again thrown a wrench into those plans.
In the US, there was a record of more than one million cases recorded in a single day last week as the Omicron variant proved highly transmissible. Record levels of cases have been recorded in the UK and other European countries too.
In Hong Kong, HSBC last week followed Standard Chartered, UBS and Bank of America in reimposing restrictions on the number of staff in its offices after a spike in Covid cases.
HSBC told staff in a memo that businesses will have to make do with a maximum of 50% of their employees in the office and units that have been operating split teams since the pandemic hit will continue to do so.
Too risky
For many bankers, returning to work is not worth the risk.
In the face of rising infection rates, even Goldman has relented on its push to get bankers back in their seats in 2022, allowing employees who can work remotely to do so until January 18, according to an internal memo to employees.
Goldman has been more aggressive than rivals in pushing a return to work, with stricter requirements for vaccines and boosters with frequent testing.
While banks have eased the push to get bankers back to their office towers, other industries are being far more relaxed about return to office plans, notably technology. In December, Apple cancelled its planned February 1 return to work date for a “a date yet to be determined”.
That may be the reality for banks as well. In its memo Citi said it would “continue to monitor the data and provide an update in January on when we expect to be back in the office”.
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