Leading banks in Canada have asked their employees to work from amid the growing concerns due to the new Covid-19 variant Omicron.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and National Bank of Canada are the latest to delay return to office plans.
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The announcement comes after top Canadian health official Theresa Tam warned that the Covid-19 cases in the country could rise rapidly in the coming days.
As per Reuters’ report, in an internal memo, CIBC group head for people, culture and brand Sandy Sharman stated that “we’ve made the decision to pause our plans” for return to the office.
Sharman cited the rising cases and said that “it’s our intent to return as soon as it’s safe to do so.”
Employees who had returned to the office or on-site work were also asked to work from home.
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By GlobalDataNational Bank sent a similar message to employees.
“A message was just sent to our employees asking them to work remotely if they can,” a spokesperson told the publication in an email.
“In the longer term, we are staying the course with our plan of reopening gradually, on a voluntary basis, with no set date.”
Earlier this week, Canada’s third-largest lender Bank of Nova Scotia announced its decision to halt return to office plans.
Meanwhile, last week, the UK government issued new rules to curb the spread omicron variant.
After the announcement, lenders such as HSBC, StanChart, Natwest, JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank started asking their London employees to work from home.
In the US, omicron is spreading quickly in New York and New Jersey, the report added citing data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Financial institutions such as Jefferies Financial Group have asked the employees to continue working from home.
