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Goldman
Sachs draws a line in the sand on employee vaccination
By Alexis Benveniste, CNN Business
Updated
8:39 PM ET, Thu July 29, 2021
New
York (CNN)All eyes are on Wall
Street as the Covid-19 Delta variant continues to spread and Corporate
America starts rolling out vaccination policies.
And
although there's talk of banks requiring employees to show proof
of vaccination,
Goldman
Sachs has drawn its line in the sand. The investment bank is barring employees from
using their ID cards to enter the office building if they haven't submitted
proof of their vaccination status, a spokesperson for the company told CNN
Business.
Goldman's plan
Goldman
Sachs employees are currently required to report their vaccine status
to the company, a policy that was instituted on June 10. Failure to do so
comes with specific consequences.
"If
you do not report your vaccine status to Goldman, your ID card will not work
to enter the building," a spokesperson for the company told CNN
Business. "The entrance of the building is contingent on you reporting
your vaccine status," the spokesperson added.
Unvaccinated
employees are required to get a rapid Covid-19 test on site at the Goldman
Sachs office and will be tested regularly, the spokesperson said. Employees
who test positive will immediately be asked to leave the building.
How other banks are handling the return to work
Morgan
Stanley (MS)'s New York office is banning all unvaccinated staff and
clients from entering its headquarters. All employees who work in buildings
with a "large employee presence" were required to confirm their
vaccination status by July 1, according to a memo to employees.
At Deutsche
Bank (DB), there are no restrictions on
employees who are vaccinated and have shared their vaccine status with the
company, a spokesperson for the bank told CNN Business. Unvaccinated
employees and employees who don't share their vaccination status, however,
are required to answer a set of questions about any symptoms and travel, and
must wear masks and get tested several times per week at the office.
Citibank
employees who are
vaccinated can submit their vaccine cards, and employees who are not
vaccinated are required to test three times per week with an at-home rapid
test. After taking the test, the employees upload their results to the test's
app for their employer to see.
Bank
of America (BAC) was
more vague when asked for specifics on how their
vaccine policy will be implemented. "We are pulling folks
back who have shared their vaccination status," a spokesperson for the
company told CNN Business. "We are prioritizing the vaccinated coming
back," the spokesperson added.
Wells
Fargo (CBEAX) is "collecting vaccination status from our
employees to better enable our focus on health and safety in the
workplace," a spokesperson for the company told CNN Business.
Jefferies (JEF) is only allowing vaccinated employees into the office
according to a memo that the company's CEO and president sent to employees,
and only after they're past the appropriate waiting period for full vaccine
efficacy. "We require that, after Labor Day, anyone who is not fully
vaccinated should continue to work from home," the memo said.
Barclays
declined to comment
on its vaccine policy.
JP
Morgan Chase, UBS, HSBC did
not respond to CNN's request for comment.
Wall Street's push for the office
For
months, Wall Street has pushed for employees to come back to
the office as more Americans get vaccinated against Covid-19.
Morgan
Stanley CEO James Gorman and Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, for example,
both made it clear that they're expecting their employees to return by Labor
Day — a date that is quickly approaching yet might become a moving target as
the Delta variant continues to spread.
Gorman
previously warned that he'll be "very disappointed" if workers
aren't back by Labor Day. And for those who are not, "we'll have a
different kind of conversation," he said. As for Moynihan, he recently said, "Our view is all
the vaccinated teammates will be back" after Labor Day.
The
rush to get back to the office is due, in part, to work cultural concerns, as
Zoom calls and Slack messages are no substitute for in-person meetings and
training. Others worries center on cybersecurity and risk management
vulnerabilities inherent in businesses that conduct billions of dollars of
transactions every day.
At its core, banking is a highly
interactive business — and no one on hyper-competitive Wall Street wants to
lose a deal because of a slow WiFi connection.
--
CNN's Matt Egan contributed to this report
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