(Reuters) – Jefferies Financial Group Inc Chief Executive Officer Richard Handler said on Saturday the company is “tentatively shooting” for Jan. 17 as a return to office date.
In an Instagram post, Handler said employees eligible for a coronavirus vaccine booster shot must get one before Jan. 31 to gain access to the lender’s offices.
On Dec. 8 Jefferies asked staff to work from home following a spate of COVID-19 cases within the company that prompted it to cancel all client parties and most travel plans.
Handler said on Saturday that the employees diagnosed with COVID-19 had mostly experienced mild or moderate symptoms with very few cases of severe symptoms, adding that the severity was short-lived and those individuals are now doing well.
He said over 95% of Jefferies’ staff are fully vaccinated.
Wall Street banks and investment firms have been more proactive than other sectors in requiring employees return to offices. Many of those moves have been derailed by the rapid spread of the newly discovered Omicron coronavirus variant.
(Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
