Goldman Sachs has ordered its employees to go back to working from home (WFH), as COVID cases in Bengaluru began to rise once again. The city houses one of the largest Goldman Sachs global offices. With 1,280 new cases detected on March 23, except for the critical staff, others were asked to return to the WFH arrangement.
The city reported almost 14,000 new cases this month, which is double the number reported a month ago.
It is not certain as to how long the WFH mode will be followed, but it is certain that staff will not be called to office for at least a couple of months.
Goldman Sachs has been keen to get employees back to office, in keeping with the safety protocols, in phases, and as per the situation in the respective countries where its offices are located.
Last month, David Solomon, CEO, Goldman Sachs had expressed his keenness to see employees returning to work from their offices. He had clearly called work from home an “aberration” and indicated that the Bank will take all the necessary steps to return to the normal mode of working as soon as possible.
In fact, Solomon has been urging government officials to implement the required changes faster so that employees can get back to working from their offices. He has also been very vocal in encouraging the use of support from the private sector to help accelerate the ‘return to office’ process.
However, in India, the majority of the Bank’s workforce is based out of its Bengaluru office, which has a workforce strength of about 7,000.
