Panel SA: BTG reduces office occupancy to 10% with omicron and flu

Large banks have taken a step back in resuming face-to-face work and are reassessing the return of employees to offices in the face of the advance of the omicron and the flu in the country.

Before the turn of the year, BTG Pactual decided to reduce occupancy in all its offices in Brazil and abroad to 10%. The rest of the team remains at home office. Before, occupancy was below 50%, according to the company.

The bank, which has about 4,000 employees in Brazil, says it has carried out two tests a week and requests proof of vaccination from those who are working in person.

With the peak of infections at the beginning of the year, Itaú also once again advised employees to prioritize working from home. In September, the bank had started a pilot project to gradually resume the return to administrative offices in hybrid scaled, flexible hybrid or face-to-face models.

Bradesco decided to keep the pace with a gradual return. According to the company, at the moment, 60% of the staff in the administrative areas are working in the offices alternately —30% each week.

Sought by the column, Santander does not comment. At the beginning of the pandemic, in 2020, President Sérgio Rial expressed skepticism about the practice.

In a presentation to employees, he spoke of desertion when referring to those who wanted to change the face-to-face work at the bank for the home office, at a time when deaths from the coronavirus began to grow in Brazil.

Then, he suggested a voluntary abdication of benefits or part of the salary by employees who opted for remote work, since they would spend less time and money to go to the company.

with Andressa Motter e Ana Paula Branco