(Reuters) – Jefferies Financial Group on Wednesday canceled all client parties and most travel plans, asking employees to work from home where possible, due to a spate of COVID-19 cases.
The company has seen more than 40 cases since the start of December, Chief Executive Richard Handler said in a memo seen by Reuters, adding that the firm was re-imposing a mask mandate in all its offices, regardless of vaccination status.
The memo requested employees to work from home where possible and announced the cancellation of all travel except the most essential, unless pre-approved.
The firm, which the memo said had seen attendance average as high as 60% many days globally in recent weeks, said everyone who wants to enter any Jefferies offices or attend an event will have to have a booster vaccination administered by Jan. 31, unless they are not yet eligible to do so.
Jefferies Group CFO Peg Broadbent died due to coronavirus complications in March, 2020.
(Reporting by Matt Scuffman and Aaron Saldanha, Additional reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bangalore)
