Citi requires vaccines for employees returning to offices

Dive Brief:

Citi employees in New York City, Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia must get vaccinated before they are asked to return to the office Sept. 13, Sara Wechter, the bank's head of human resources, wrote in a LinkedIn post Tuesday.
"For other corporate offices across the U.S., we continue to monitor data and are not bringing more people back at this time," she wrote. The bank is not extending the vaccine mandate to branch workers, according to Wechter's post, but will "strongly encourage them to get vaccinated and will require rapid testing and wearing of masks for all colleagues."
"Given the increased number of employees returning to these buildings, and the delta variant in the U.S., we are taking this approach to ensure a safe workplace," she wrote.

Dive Insight:

The September return is part of Citi CEO Jane Fraser’s plan to allow most employees to work remotely up to two days per week.

"All colleagues at our NYC HQ and other offices in the tri-state area, as well as Chicago, Boston, D.C. and Philadelphia, will be expected to return at least two days a week," Wechter wrote.

The announcement comes as other banks postpone in-person work plans. Wells Fargo recently pushed back its scheduled return from Sept. 6 to Oct. 4. U.S. Bank has delayed such plans indefinitely.

Other Wall Street banks have remained unyielding, in spite of the growing number of coronavirus cases brought on by the delta variant. JPMorgan will begin working in person full-time this September, and Goldman Sachs has required half of its workforce to appear in person since June.

Fraser has adopted a more flexible approach to mid-pandemic work life. During her tenure, Citi enacted Zoom-free Fridays to stem fatigue. And her decision to enact a hybrid work policy in the long term clashes with peers like Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, who sees remote work as an "aberration."

However, Fraser and Solomon’s feelings toward vaccinations are less at odds. Goldman Sachs requires employees to report their vaccination status before setting foot in an office; unvaccinated bankers are subject to testing.

Fraser has adopted a stricter vaccination policy than many Wall Street banks, such as Wells Fargo, which require employees to report their vaccination status, but do not require vaccinations.