BlackRock's 16,000 employees may continue to work remotely for the remainder of the year wherever they are located, even as the firm reopens offices around the world in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Given the uncertainty in many of our locations and to help you plan ahead, we will continue providing all employees the option of working from home for the rest of 2020. When your office is available for use, you can decide to work from the office, work from home or split your time between the two," said an Aug. 3 employee memo obtained by Pensions & Investments.
Where BlackRock reopens offices based on local conditions and government guidelines, it will use a split-team model for the time being to "ensure social distancing," said the joint memo from Robert S. Goldstein, senior managing director, chief operating officer and head of BlackRock Solutions; Lawrence Knafo, managing director and chief security officer; and Manish Mehta, managing director and global head of human resources.
BlackRock will increase office occupancy in areas where COVID-19 conditions have improved or reduce an office's in-person head count if pandemic conditions worsen.
"We recognize the stress this situation has created for all of us and hope these options provide the flexibility you need to balance work with taking care of yourselves and your loved ones over the next several months," wrote Messrs. Goldstein, Knafo and Mehta.
BlackRock managed $7.32 trillion as of June 30.
