Money managers postponing return to U.S. offices

Updated with corrections.

BlackRock’s original date for its U.S. employees to return to work in its offices was in early September. Also, the firm has not announced whether COVID-19 vaccinations will be required for employees when they resume working in its U.S. offices on Oct. 1.

PIMCO will not require that its employees be vaccinated when they return to work in the firm’s offices in October.

Incorrect information was provided in an earlier version of this story that ran in the Aug. 19 P&I Daily.

Concern over the recent surge in COVID-19 and delta variant cases has convinced some money managers to delay the full opening of their U.S. offices.

Among firms that pushed their initial early fall U.S. return-to-office dates to October are BlackRock, Bridgewater Associates, Pacific Investment Management Co., Putnam Investment Management and T. Rowe Price Associates.

T. Rowe Price postponed its return to in-office work to Oct. 18 from Sept. 13, said a company spokesman in an email.

"We made this decision to help reduce the potential for continued community spread of the delta variant and to support a safer working environment," the spokesman said.

T. Rowe Price is not requiring that its employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 and variants but is "encouraging" that they receive the vaccine, he said.

T. Rowe Price managed $1.62 trillion as of June 30.

Putnam delayed the reopening of its U.S. offices in response to the continuing pandemic to Oct. 4 from Sept. 7, said spokeswoman Laura McNamara in an email.

Putnam has been "closely monitoring current public health developments, particularly the delta variant and (the) increase in the number of COVID-19 cases," she said.

All employees working in Putnam's U.S. offices must be vaccinated, Ms. McNamara said.

Putnam managed $200 billion as of July 31.

Alternative asset manager Bridgewater Associates is closely monitoring the progress of the delta variant and will reopen its offices in mid-October at earliest, said Nir Bar Dea, deputy CEO, in an email.

"There are several considerations that we are weighing when it comes to timing," Mr. Bar Dea said, including how the variant affects health and safety, state and federal regulations and the ways the schools will respond to the situation.

Bridgewater requires that employees who work in its office be vaccinated except for those who cannot because of religious or medical reasons.

Bridgewater managed $150 billion in hedge funds and risk-parity strategies as of July 31.

PIMCO plans a return of all employees to full-time work in its U.S. offices through a phased approach throughout October, said a spokeswoman in an email. It originally set a back-to-work date of Sept. 7.

PIMCO managed $2.2 trillion as of June 30.

In early August, BlackRock changed the date for its U.S. employees' return to their offices to Oct. 1 from early September because of the delta variant threat.

The variant "raises concerns about returning to the office, even for those who are vaccinated," BlackRock told its employees in an Aug. 5 internal memo obtained by Pensions & Investments.

BlackRock is only allowing vaccinated employees to work in its U.S. offices before Oct. 1, said Devon Burgess, a BlackRock spokesman, in an email.

BlackRock managed $9.5 trillion as of June 30.

Regardless of when their U.S. offices open, most money managers are bringing their employees back to work on hybrid schedules that allow them to work remotely for part of each week, industry sources said.

"The vast majority of the investment industry will move to hybrid models as quickly as possible from conversations we've had with managers. The aim is to have employees in the office three days a week," said Yariv Itah, a Stamford, Conn.-based managing principal of Casey Quirk, a practice of Deloitte Consulting LLC, in an interview.