Fidelity and Morgan Stanley prepare for lingering COVID-19 issues

BOSTON / NEW YORK, Dec. 13 (Reuters) – Asset management firm Fidelity Investments said on Monday it had put some plans for voluntary return to office on hold while the Morgan Stanley CEO said he expects that COVID-19 is a problem over the next year, as a further sign that the US financial industry is rethinking its return to “business as usual.”

American financial firms have been more proactive than other industries in encouraging employees to return to their offices.

These plans have come under close scrutiny, with COVID-19 cases on the rise again and the Omicron variant of the coronavirus spreading rapidly. Some financial companies are now choosing to opt out of the holiday season, recommend booster shots, or even advise returning to work from home. Read more

“Private recognition is that the return to work plans set for January need another look,” said Neal Mills, chief medical officer of the professional services firm Aon, which advises companies on their return to work plans. .

Mills said he had received daily calls last week from companies facing COVID-19 outbreaks asking for advice on whether to delay employee returns or reinstate mitigation measures, such as social distancing. Cases increased after Thanksgiving and are expected to continue to rise and peak in January, he said.

Family-controlled, Boston-headquartered Fidelity has suspended pilot back-to-office programs at its Boston, Smithfield, Rhode Island and Merrimack, New Hampshire offices “due to increased COVID risk scores Said spokesperson Michael Aalto.

COVID-19 hospitalizations in Massachusetts rose 58% in the two weeks leading up to Dec.9, state officials showed, their highest level since February.

Several hundred people visited these New England sites, Aalto said, adding that volunteer programs representing thousands of employees were still underway at other sites in the United States.

Last week, Wall Street investment bank Jefferies fired staff home and canceled customer holidays and nearly all essential travel after the company experienced nearly 40 new cases of COVID-19.

Morgan Stanley (MS.N) chief executive James Gorman said in an interview with CNBC on Monday that while the bank has around 65% of its staff 95% vaccinated in New York in its offices and trading floors had hundreds of employees, the impact of the pandemic was taking longer to recover than expected.

“We are still in a period of transition,” said Gorman. “I thought we would be out of it by Labor Day, after Labor Day. We’re not. I think we’ll still be there for most of next year. his path.”

Gorman has spoken out in favor of returning staff to the office. At the company’s US finance, payments, and commercial real estate conference in June, he said that if “you want to get paid at New York rates, you work in New York.”

He told CNBC that if the staff wanted to relocate en masse to a part of the country at low cost “it creates problems” but his employees had not reacted that way.

Daily cases in New York City have increased this month and hospitalizations are at their highest level since April, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

While the Delta variant is still dominant in the United States, Omicron has been detected in many US states, including New York. Read more

LONDON STALLS

In London, major investment banks advised most employees to work from home from Monday, in line with Britain’s tighter restrictions, but said their offices will remain open. At least one person has died in the UK after contracting Omicron.

This change represented a change for many companies in Europe’s largest financial capital as, until last week, most encouraged staff to return to the office.

“We expect a reduction in the number of people entering our offices, but our buildings will continue to be accessible to all employees,” JPMorgan (JPM.N) said in a note to UK staff at the end of the last week.

Goldman Sachs International (GS.N) chief executive Richard Gnodde said in a memo on Friday that all UK staff who could work from home “effectively” should do so, but added that their offices in London and Birmingham would also remain open.

Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) said the workforce in London would be drastically reduced from Monday, although employees with certain roles such as traders or those with personal reasons could still enter. It also discouraged staff from attending social gatherings. Read more

Reporting by Ross Kerber in Boston, Elizabeth Dilts Marshall and Matt Scuffham in New York and Iain Withers in London; Written by Michelle Price and Megan Davies; Editing by Franklin Paul, Howard Goller and Bill Berkrot

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