, have required workers to return to their respective offices. This edict bucked the overall corporate trend of providing hybrid, remote and flexible work choices.over 40 new Covid-19 cases
in December—with 10 on Tuesday. Peregrine “Peg” Broadbent, the bank’s chief financial officer, previously died from Covid-19 complications back in March 2020. Reuters reported that CEO Richard Handler wrote in a memo,"Our priority now is to best protect every one of you and your families." Handler continued,"Effective today, we are canceling all social events and entertainment until January 3rd." Staff was asked to return home. Moving forward, the company is also requiring a mask mandate in all of its offices, even for those who are already vaccinated.
It may feel easy to fault banks for ordering their teams to return to an office setting. To be fair, they may have some valid reasons. Banks and brokerage firms are held to strict regulatory requirements. Maintaining a distributed workforce could be challenging from a compliance and supervisory perspective.
Another rationale could be that the securities industry in New York City is a big employer, contributing a large amount of tax revenue, while the tens of thousands of workers support an ecosystem of restaurants, bars, shops, gyms and an array of other businesses. If everyone worked remotely, it could cause the closure of many small businesses.
I bet they were all vaxed too