Chinese Financial Sector Has No COVID Leave... Employees Asked to Return to Work

An office of a financial company in Shanghai, China
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Some financial companies in China, where COVID-19 cases are surging, are allowing employees infected with COVID-19 to come to work.

According to major foreign media including Bloomberg on the 26th, China Guojin Securities requested employees who took a week off due to COVID-19 or are in self-quarantine to return to the office if they show no symptoms. Additionally, even if their family members are confirmed positive, they were instructed to come to the office without separate self-quarantine.

Also, an asset management company reportedly scrapped its previous policy last weekend that required a negative COVID-19 test result within 72 hours to come to the office. According to sources, department heads at this company were instructed to secure as many staff as necessary to continue operations.

Moreover, at least two asset management firms have exceptionally allowed traders infected with COVID-19 to work from home. Sources said these companies permitted employees on sick leave to work from home with surveillance cameras installed to monitor all trading activities once their health condition improved.

This policy shift is due to China’s transition from a strict 'Zero COVID' policy to 'With COVID,' resulting in a rapid increase in infections. China’s National Health Commission has stopped releasing daily new infection statistics, but it is reported that internally last week they estimated daily new infections reached 37 million.

Chinese financial companies implemented plans to prepare for the COVID-19 spread two weeks ago, and companies in the Shanghai area also have experience from the prolonged lockdown during the COVID-19 surge in April and May.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.