National Bank Asks Employees to Work From Home as Cases Rise

(Bloomberg) -- National Bank of Canada, which had reopened its offices at 50% capacity, is asking employees to work remotely if they can. 

Over the longer term, the bank is staying the course on its plan to reopen gradually, voluntarily and with no set date, Marie-Pierre Jodoin, a spokeswoman for the Montreal-based company, said in an email.

Still, National Bank’s move adds to a list of North American companies, including Fidelity Investments and Google, that are pulling back on efforts to return workers to their offices in response to growing Covid-19 case counts and concerns about the spread of the omicron variant. In Canada, Bank of Nova Scotia earlier this week delayed a plan to start a phased return to the office for its headquarters employees on Jan. 17.

Infections in Quebec have crept up in recent weeks and the government there will announce 2,300 new daily cases on Wednesday, Health Minister Christian Dube said in a radio interview. The government this week recommended employers adopt work-from-home practices and said free rapid tests will be distributed to the population of 8.5 million people. 

Ontario, where National Bank also has significant operations, on Tuesday reported 1,429 new covid cases, up 54% from a week earlier.

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