Major companies, like Goldman and Citi, are asking workers to return to their offices after the U.K. government dropped its work-from-home guidance.
Goldman Sachs (GS) – Get Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. Report, Citigroup (C) – Get Citigroup Inc. Report and a host of other companies are asking their workers in London to return to the office, after the U.K. government on Wednesday dropped its recommendation that people work from home.
The news on Goldman and Citigroup came from Bloomberg.
“We are now free to gather in our offices, without restriction, where we are better able to generate the energy and collaborative spirit on which Citi thrives,” bank executives wrote in an e-mail to workers that was obtained by Bloomberg.
Fidelity International and Standard Chartered also are encouraging their U.K. workers to come back to the office, their executives told Bloomberg TV.
In the U.S., it’s not clear when financial company workers will be pushed to return to the office, as the Covid omicron variant continues to have an impact.
Last month, Citigroup encouraged its staffers to work from home in the first few weeks of the year, Bloomberg reported.
And even JPMorgan Chase (JPM) – Get JPMorgan Chase & Co. Report, one of the strongest backers of returning to the office, said workers could stay home in the first two weeks of January.
Meanwhile, some experts predict a lull in the Covid pandemic after omicron passes, which would be a welcome development for the economy.
By that point many more people will have immunity to Covid through vaccination and infection.
“I think we will have a relative lull,” Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, told Stat. But he said it will take weeks for omicron to ease in most parts of the country.
