Coronavirus: JPMorgan directs employees to work remotely

JPMorgan Chase & Co has joined the host of companies encouraging remote working due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The bank reportedly told its New York employees to work from home after the New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo asked businesses to help the state slow the spread of the disease.

Cuomo had asked businesses to voluntarily consider staggering shifts for employees and letting them telecommute to help stem the spread of the highly contagious virus. Reports have it that the cases recorded in New York had jumped to 216 within two weeks.

[READ MORE: Coronavirus: YouTube now allows content creators to monetize deadly disease)

JPMorgan plans to split the workers into two groups, one group working from home and the other in the office. The groups would engage in the weekly shift. This plan applies to the bank’s employees based in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Jersey City. The Seattle-area employees started remote working last week.

What you should know: In recent times, companies have responded to the fight against coronavirus by adjusting their business plans to curb the spread. This had become crucial for them due to the high rate at which people were testing positive to the virus.

Companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Chevron, Facebook and Twitter, amongst others have all recently directed their employees to work from home as well. Although this remote working does not apply to all of the companies’ employees in all branches where they operate.

While Uber said it would start remote working on April 6, Shopify is giving its employees $1,000 to furnish their work-from-home setups with whatever gear they need because of coronavirus.

READ ALSO: JPMorgan Chase signs deal with Envestnet Yodlee over data sharing  

About JP Morgan Chase: JPMorgan Chase is one of the oldest financial institutions in the United States. With a history dating back over 200 years, it has over 250,000 employees and presence in over 100 markets.

Headquartered in New York, JPMorgan Chase is ranked by S&P Global as the largest bank in the United States and the sixth-largest bank in the world by total assets, with total assets of $2.6 trillion.