Hong Kong’s banks including HSBC, Standard Chartered ask staff to work from home in A-B teams as Omicron tears through Covid-19 defence with threat of a fifth wave of infections
- As Hong Kong government reimposes strict social distancing measures to contain the fifth wave of the pandemic, banks in the city are heeding its call
- Banks move staffers in split teams and encourage working-from-home, as the city bans flights from six countries and shutters venues
Several banks in Hong Kong have temporarily split their staff into A-B teams to let employees work from home as the Omicron variant of the coronavirus tears through some of the world’s tightest control measures, threatening a fifth wave of infections in the city.
HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Bank of East Asia and UBS have divided their staff into alternative teams with immediate effect. HSBC instructed employees to occupy alternative seats in the office to keep a minimum distance of 1.5 metres between them, according to an internal memo seen by the Post. No more than 20 people should attend any meeting or event, according to the memo.
UBS instructed its 2,500 staff to avoid travelling across floors that the Swiss bank occupies at the IFC Two building in Central, capping meetings at 12 attendees.
“We want to take pre-emptive steps to ensure your continued health and safety while maintaining our ability to operate effectively,” UBS said in an internal memo seen by the Post.
“We’ve managed through multiple Covid-19 waves before so we know we can overcome this,” Standard Chartered said in an internal memo to staff seen by the Post.
Bank of America is encouraging employees to work from home until January 24 “to reflect the government’s latest guidance”, according to an internal memo. The bank declined to comment.