- Wall Street firms are taking COVID-19 vaccinations into account as they head back to the office.
- Several banks have requested to learn about employees' COVID-19 vaccination status.
- Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Deutsche Bank are among firms surveying employees.
Wall Street has its eyes on a return to the office — and now its curiosity is coalescing around whether or not employees have been vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Numerous financial-services firms have issued surveys or attestation forms to their employees, requesting that they voluntarily disclose whether or not they have received the COVID-19 jab.
US employers are legally within their rights to require workers to get a COVID-19 vaccine or restrict their access to the office, according to recent guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Insider has compiled the latest details on how eight financials-services firms are surveying employs regarding their vaccination status.
The inquiries come on the heels of the banks spelling out their plans to start migrating workers back to their workplaces as of mid-June.
Insider is tracking Wall Street's return to work, and which banks and asset managers are screening for COVID-19 injections. Here's the latest.
Are you an employee of a financial-services firm who has been advised about returning to the office, or been asked to disclose your vaccination status? Contact this reporter. Reed Alexander can be reached on email at ralexander@businessinsider.com, or via the encrypted app Signal at (561) 247-5758.
AllianceBernstein
AllianceBernstein, a global asset manager with more than 3,900 employees, is conducting a voluntary vaccination verification process among US employees.
At this point, however, the firm has no plans to require employees to be vaccinated in order to gain access to its facilities, a person familiar with the matter told Insider.
Kate Burke, the firm's chief operating officer and head of its private wealth division, told Insider during its "Future of Work on Wall Street" webinar that the company is voluntarily collecting this information "to help us assess social distancing and building requirements as needed."
Those employees who have attested to being vaccinated may move about the company's workspaces without wearing a mask. Employees who have not received the vaccine or declined to disclose their status will be required to wear masks and adhere to social-distancing regulations, Burke said.
Bank of America
Bank of America is encouraging employees across its business lines to disclose their COVID-19 vaccination status.
However, doing so is voluntary and the firm does not have a mandate in place requiring employees to receive the jab, a person familiar with the matter told Insider.
The person added that gathering the information through its vaccine portal is part of the considerations that the firm is making in its return-to-office plans.
Insider first reported in April that the company was requesting that workers in its Merrill Lynch Wealth Management unit disclose whether or not they had received the vaccine.
In regards to the company's return-to-work timeline, the firm has previously said it anticipates that most employees will make a broad migration back to the office after Labor Day.
Meanwhile, a small number of bankers and traders have already begun to return to the workplace as of June, the person said.
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank will roll out a vaccination survey to all employees in the US on July 6, asking them to disclose their COVID-19 vaccination status.
Melissa Fridman, global head of human resources for the investment bank at Deutsche Bank, announced plans for the forthcoming survey on Insider's "Future of Work on Wall Street" webinar on June 24.
Starting two weeks after receiving their second shot, US employees will not be required to take a COVID test when entering the office, nor will they be mandated to wear masks on premises unless they wish to. Non-vaccinated colleagues will be required to test before entry and wear a mask while on site.
On May 20, the firm issued a survey to a limited number of US employees who were back in the office in approved roles. About 92% of New York-based respondents indicated they had already received the COVID-19 vaccine.
Credit Suisse
Insider reviewed two separate memos sent by senior Credit Suisse executives on the bank's US leadership team, in which the firm told employees that they were required to fill out a mandatory health attestation form pertaining to the COVID-19 vaccine.
Employees may also voluntarily disclose whether or not they had received the vaccine, but filling out the attestation form itself was required, not optional.
That was according to the first of the two memos, which was sent on May 24. Employees had until May 28 to fill out the form.
Sources previously told Insider that the health attestation form operates as a waiver of sorts, protecting the firm if any of its staff members were to fall ill with the disease.
The May 24 memo added that returning workers will "also attest to their vaccination status" and compliance with the company's protocols on an "ongoing basis," upon arrival at the office.
A second document reviewed by Insider, which was sent in early June by the US leadership team, reminded employees that responding to the attestation form was mandatory, and if they had not done so, that they were past due. In it, managers were asked to check with their teams to ensure a 100% compliance rate in filling out the form.
Previously, Insider reported that Credit Suisse employees who had received the COVID-19 vaccine would voluntarily be able to return to the office beginning on June 14.
After the Labor Day holiday on September 6, the firm will implement the second phase of its return, in which all employees will be expected back at the company's US workplaces, under the auspices of a regular, full-time schedule.
A representative for Credit Suisse declined to comment beyond the contents of the memos.
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs asked employees to disclose whether or not they had received the COVID-19 shot by 12 p.m. ET on Thursday, June 10, according to an internal memo reviewed by Insider.
"Registering your vaccination status allows us to plan for a safer return to the office for all of our people as we continue to abide by local public health measures," the memo said, adding that employees would upload their vaccination status on an app called Canopy.
"While we strongly encourage you to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, we understand that the choice to get vaccinated is a personal one," the document added. It was first reported by the New York Times' DealBook newsletter.
Previously, Insider reported that Goldman Sachs informed its US staffers that they would be expected back at the office beginning on June 14. UK employees are required to return by June 21.
JPMorgan
JPMorgan Chase has issued employees a mandatory questionnaire about whether or not they have been vaccinated by the end of this month, Bloomberg reported on June 23.
The firm's operating committee members made the announcement via an internal company memo reviewed by Insider after Bloomberg's report. Employees have until June 30 to respond, or will be contacted by their managers until they do so.
They have three options, per the memo: to identify that they are vaccinated, respond that they are not vaccinated, or decline to share their status, which is also a permissible response.
Starting on July 6, employees who have been vaccinated and upload proof with their vaccination card will not be required to wear a mask, engage in social distancing on premises, or complete the company's daily health check.
"We strongly urge all of our employees to be vaccinated because we think it protects you, your friends and family, your fellow employees, and the community at large," the memo signatories said, adding that they may require employees to be vaccinated in the future.
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley will restrict employees and clients who have not received the COVID-19 vaccine from entering specific facilities in the New York City and Westchester area that are designated as being "vaccine-only," a person familiar with the matter told Insider.
The firm's vaccination requirements were first reported by the Financial Times, which reviewed an internal company memo, on June 22.
The policy will go into effect on July 12, the FT reported, citing the memo. If visitors or employees have failed to attest to being fully vaccinated by that date, they would lose access, FT reported, per the memo.
The person familiar with the matter told Insider that some buildings in the New York and Westchester area are exempt from the vaccine-only policy, but would require employees to designate that they have tested negative for the coronavirus. The company is obeying an honors system, rather than requiring employees or visitors to produce medical documents evidencing their immunity, according to the source.
In mid-June, James Gorman, the firm's CEO, said at a Morgan Stanley event that more than 90% of the company's staffers who are presently working out of its offices had received vaccines, and he was hoping to see that number rise to nearly 99%.
Morgan Stanley also asked its interns to participate in its VaccineCheck survey, ahead of an optional two-week experience from July 19 to July 30 in which they would have the option to come into the office in person, Insider reported in June.
Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo alerted all US employees on June 10 that it will confidentially survey them in regards to their vaccination status.
In a memo reviewed by Insider which was sent to US-based employees by Wells Fargo's Chief Operating Officer Scott Powell, the firm said that it would request that employees respond to survey by June 16, denoting their vaccination status.
While survey answers are confidential, Powell said that the goal is to harness the data to inform the bank's plans to "maintain a safe workplace" as it begins the migration back to the office.
Wells Fargo previously told employees — even if they had already been vaccinated — to expect to continue working from home until Labor Day.
"To better inform our planning for returning to the workplace, we are asking U.S. employees to voluntarily take a brief survey regarding COVID-19 vaccination status and plans," a company representative told Insider in an emailed statement on June 10.
"The data collected will be used as an aggregate only, not on a person-by-person level, and responses will be confidential," the spokesperson added.
Anna Cooban, Aaron Weinman, Kate Duffy, and Rebecca Ungarino contributed reporting.
