Goldman lifts most remaining Covid restrictions on US offices

Goldman Sachs will remove most of its remaining Covid-19 restrictions on employees at its US offices as the Wall Street group strives to get more of its bankers back into office.

“With many tools, including vaccination, improved treatments and testing now available, there is significantly less risk of serious disease,” Goldman told staff on Tuesday in a memo seen by the Financial Times.

Goldman, which has approximately 47,000 employees worldwide, was one of the first advocates of office work as the pandemic eased, returning employees to its New York headquarters in June 2021.

Before going to the office, Goldman had still requested that staff be vaccinated against Covid-19. But as of Sept. 6, all of its employees in US regions can now enter their offices regardless of their vaccination status, Goldman said in the memo.

This does not apply to New York, where local regulations require office workers to be vaccinated. Goldman has thousands of employees in other US cities, including Dallas, Salt Lake City and San Francisco.

The contents of the memo were first reported by The New York Post.

Goldman also told staff it will phase out the supply of Covid-19 test kits.

Other banks have also relaxed their Covid-19 policies. In a memo to New York employees last week, Morgan Stanley said it would end all testing requirements and delete quarantine and isolation notification emails.

The austere policy reflects the eagerness of many bank executives to bring more employees back to the office, an effort that began last summer.

Goldman’s push to allow staff to return to the office five days a week has led some bankers to file a complaint with CEO David Solomon, the FT has previously reported.