Wall Street has been quick to change its Covid-19 protocols after New York State dropped its indoor mask mandate last month. At JPMorgan Chase, masks are now voluntary for vaccinated and unvaccinated employees, and the company will stop mandatory Covid testing and reporting of Covid infections by April 4. was canceled early last month.
Goldman Sachs dropped the mask requirements on Feb. 14, although it has yet to be tested. Citigroup dropped its mask duty last week. Wells Fargo has adopted stricter Covid protocols than some of its finance colleagues, requiring unvaccinated workers to wear masks at all times unless eating, drinking or being alone in an enclosed area.
Other industries that have boosted personal work, such as real estate, have also reformulated their Covid guidelines in recent weeks. BlackRock, which has asked its 7,600 U.S. employees to return to the office at least three days a week, no longer requires masks in its U.S. offices, although employees must be vaccinated before entering the building and are asked to return to the office twice a week. to test. Prologis, a logistics real estate company, said office mask guidelines were in line with local regulations. Guardian Life Insurance, which has about 6,300 employees in the US, has no office mask requirement in most parts of the country.
Still, some tech companies are sticking to Covid safety protocols. Google requires unvaccinated employees to enter its offices with approval for regular testing and to wear masks. Meta, Facebook’s parent company, is demanding that anyone entering the office be vaccinated — including with a booster from March 28 — and is following local masking guidelines.
Intuit announced Wednesday that starting May 16, its 11,500 U.S. employees will return to the office in a hybrid model, where teams determine how many days per week employees must be in person. While the company requires everyone who enters its offices to be vaccinated, it follows local and state masking guidelines, meaning masks are not required in any of its US offices.
“We’ve tried to emphasize that people should feel comfortable doing what feels best to them,” said Chris Glennon, Intuit’s vice president of Global Real Estate and Workplace. “We see some people masking, especially in public areas, but generally most don’t mask.”
