UBS Boss Says Unvaccinated Staff Can Work From Home

GLOBAL – UBS Chief Executive CEO Ralph Hamers just announced that employees of the Swiss multinational bank who don’t want to be inoculated against COVID-19 can apply to work remotely instead, reported City A.M. on Friday morning (3 September, SGT).

During the Swiss Economic Forum in Interlaken today, Hamers stated that UBS’ 73,000 staff across the world will have more freedom of choice if they want to get vaccinated or not.

“We have 25,000 employees alone in the US and thousands more in Singapore and Hong Kong, and every country has a different legal framework around what you can and can’t make mandatory.”

“The pandemic has delivered solutions to manage the risk of carrying the virus and passing it to your colleagues, and that is to work from home (WFH),” he explained.

As such, UBS employees who opt not to take the jab will be allowed to work remotely most of the time, based on the multinational bank’s latest plans.

The update comes 2 months after the company promised to let its staff take advantage of hybrid work arrangements depending on their locations, tasks, and role.

“We have already identified two-thirds of our jobs can continue to work from home and therefore we are developing a model of hybrid working,” Hamers revealed. Still, he believes that there will be days when staff would like to return to the office and work with their colleagues physically.

But for the remaining “25 percent to one-third” of UBS staff, particularly those who work on the trading floor, it’s really recommended for them to get vaccinated so they can return to the workplace, as it’s really difficult for their task to be done from home.

Meanwhile, UBS rivals such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Deutsche Bank have required their employees in some countries to get vaccinated against coronavirus if they want to return to the office, mostly those working in the United States.