Goldman Sachs staff in US must disclose Covid vaccination status
Bank says it will allow it ‘to plan a safer return to the office’, scheduled for next week
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Last modified on Fri 11 Jun 2021 07.49 EDT
Goldman Sachs has told its staff in the US that they must disclose their Covid-19 vaccination status before a planned return to office working next week.
The investment bank, whose 6,000 UK workers have separately been told they have the option of filling out their status anonymously to give the business an idea of vaccination levels, had previously told US staff that disclosing their inoculation status would be optional.
“Registering your vaccination status allows us to plan for a safer return to the office for all of our people as we continue to abide by local public health measures,” states the internal staff memo. “As a result, it is mandatory that you submit your vaccination status. While we strongly encourage you to receive a Covid-19 vaccine, we understand that the choice to get vaccinated is a personal one.”
Staff have been told to log their status in the bank’s internal app, Canopy, with the company saying it could be shared with managers and used for planning.
In the UK, where on any given day Goldman Sachs offices are about a third full, all staff have been told to plan to return to work in line with government guidance, which is currently 21 June.
Goldman Sachs has been at the forefront of a return to office-based working, with David Solomon, the company’s chief executive, describing home working as an “aberration”.
Last month, its rival JP Morgan Chase told all its US bankers they should prepare to return to work on a “consistent rotational schedule” by early July. However, the US’s largest bank also said it was planning to “significantly” reduce office space, saying: “For every 100 employees we may need seats for only 60 on average.”
Financial services firms are taking a variety of approaches to office working in a post-pandemic world.
Last month, the accounting and consultancy group KPMG told its 16,000 UK staff that they would only have to work an average of two days in the office each week from this month. The company, which called its plan the four-day fortnight, also announced other flexible working perks such as an extra 2.5 hours each week off during the summer.
HSBC, the UK’s biggest bank, is moving to a hybrid model and plans to cut its property footprint by as much as 40%. Lloyds Banking Group, the bank with the biggest UK high street presence, has said it will bring in working from home as a permanent lifestyle change, allowing it to cut 20% of its office space.
In March, Nationwide, the UK’s biggest building society, said its 13,000 staff who do not work in branches would be allowed to work from wherever they wanted.
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