Manulife Postpones January Return to Office as Covid Case Counts Rise

(Bloomberg) -- Manulife Financial Corp. is suspending a plan to return its employees to offices on Jan. 24 amid rising Covid-19 case counts and concerns about the omicron variant.

The life insurer and asset manager will give workers 30-days notice when it sets a new date for a widespread return to office, Chief Executive Officer Roy Gori said in a memo to staff. The company’s Jan. 24 return plan was announced less than a month ago.

Manulife joins a growing list of Canadian financial firms that are pausing plans to return workers to offices -- or even reversing earlier efforts to bring them back -- as case numbers surge in Ontario. The province, home to the financial center of Toronto, reported 2,421 new cases on Thursday, up from 1,808 a day earlier.

Manulife competitor Sun Life Financial Inc. has also paused a pilot program that had brought some workers back to the office and asked those already enrolled in the program to work from home when possible.

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