Canada’s Manulife allows staff to return to offices as COVID cases ease

Canadian insurer Manulife Financial Corporation said on Wednesday fully vaccinated employees can return to its offices in select locations on a voluntary basis from March 14 as COVID-19 cases in the country ease.

“With a decline in average daily COVID-19 cases and hospitalization rates, we are making our Halifax, Montreal, Toronto and Waterloo offices available,” the company said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

The country’s biggest insurer had delayed its return-to-office plans for staffers in North America in December due to the fast-spreading Omicron variant driving a surge in cases.

Several financial firms across Canada and the United States that had postponed their back-to-office plans late last year as governments reimposed curbs to contain the virus surge, are now looking to reopen offices and issue new guidelines for employees.

In February, Canadian lender Bank of Nova Scotia issued a similar guidance allowing staffers to return to the majority of its Canadian offices on a voluntary basis from March 14 as COVID-19 curbs lifted across the country.

Last month, Wall Street bank Wells Fargo & Co’s and payments giant American Express also asked their employees to work under a flexible hybrid model.