Omicron Scare: 100% Work From Home For 40,000 Employees Of This Company; Office Closed

Looks like the increasing number of Omicron cases is affecting many companies’ plans as they were asking their employees to return to workplaces earlier.

Investment banking company,  Goldman Sachs is encouraging its eligible U.S. staff to work from home until Jan. 18, according to a company spokesperson.

Goldman Sachs Altering Returning Office Plans

It seems that the American multinational company followed a number of its rivals in altering return-to-office plans as the Omicron variant spreads.

The spokesperson further confirmed that the Investment banking company’s offices will continue to remain open with previously announced Covid-19 safety protocols.

These measures include vaccination along with booster requirements for all eligible populations effective Feb. 1, bi-weekly testing effective Jan. 10, and mandatory masks.

So far, the financial firms have been grappling to realistically get back to business-as-usual, and also to communicate to staff and retain workers amid the uncertainty. 

Peers Following The Same 

Apart from this, a few other banks had asked their staff to work remotely due to the latest surge in cases. 

Coming to Goldman, it was among the Wall Street banks who had pushed hardest to bring staff back into offices.

Not only that, interestingly, it had been the last holdout trying to keep most staff working in the offices through the Omicron variant’s surge.

Another American multinational, investment banking company, JPMorgan Chase told workers last week they could work from home for the first two weeks of January.

Earlier it was also among those pushing staff to work in its offices.

Although, JPMorgan said that all staff is expected to return to offices no later than Feb. 1 in its memo to employees.

Joining the league, Citigroup has also asked its employees to work from home during the first few weeks of 2022, as its spokesperson said last month.