Wells Fargo is pushing its return-to-office plans back a month to early October, citing rising COVID-19 rates across the U.S.
The firm, which has the largest workforce of any U.S. bank at almost 260,000 employees, will now begin bringing back staffers who have been working remotely starting Oct. 4 rather than Sept. 7, as
The delay comes as companies across the financial industry and beyond grapple with adjusting their return-to-office plans amid climbing coronavirus cases tied to the highly contagious delta variant and changes in mask guidance across the country. The biggest U.S. banks have so far stopped short of requiring their employees to be vaccinated, in contrast with technology giants such as Alphabet’s Google and Facebook Inc. and the state of California and New York City, which have said government employees will need the shots or weekly tests.
“The delta variant does not change the basic facts: vaccinated people are at lower risk of becoming infected with COVID-19, and much lower risk of becoming seriously ill and requiring hospitalization if they do become infected,” Powell wrote in the memo. The bank is
The San Francisco-based firm has also returned to requiring all employees currently working in offices to wear masks, regardless of their vaccination status, according to a Wells Fargo spokesperson.
