© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A Chinese national flag flies outside the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) building on Financial Street in Beijing, China, July 9, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang
Written by Julie Chu, Selina Li, and Ziyi Tang
HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese regulators and state-owned banks are taking steps to split staff at their workplaces in Beijing, as companies brace for a potential spike in coronavirus cases after China eased virus restrictions in a key policy, sources told Reuters. Transformation.
The arrangements highlight how persistent concerns created by Beijing’s three-year ‘zero COVID’ policy are likely to impede a quick return to health for the world’s second-largest economy, despite its pivot away from strict containment measures.
China’s top securities regulator this week moved to a closed-loop system, two sources said, which refers to a bubble-like arrangement usually imposed as part of China’s virus prevention measures, in which employees sleep, live and work isolated from the wider world. knowing the matter.
Sources said the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) plans to allow only two employees of each department to come to the headquarters, and asked some of them to prepare for a long stay in the building.
They added that other employees are required to work from home.
Manufacturers and restaurants keen to stay open in China also prefer to err on the side of caution, by keeping COVID-19 restrictions in place until they get a clearer picture of how workplaces will be affected by the easing of strict measures.
The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) this week also issued instructions to its employees based in Beijing and plans to implement split-shift work arrangements from next week, said a person familiar with the matter.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has told its staff it will split them into two groups, with each one returning to the workplace on alternating weeks, another person with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The Joint Research Committee, CBIRC and NDRC did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Chinese government agencies and banks in Beijing have been operating at normal office staffing capacity this year as the city adhered to strict COVID-free protocols, with employees generally not allowed to leave the city for non-essential reasons.
Of China’s four largest state-owned banks, the Bank of China (BOC) has issued a notice to employees that it will divide its workforce in Beijing into three groups, working in the office on alternating weeks, according to a person with direct knowledge.
The source added that the bank has not yet decided when to start such courses.
BOC declined to comment.
Other large state banks have also made a similar arrangement – dividing staff into rotating shifts while maintaining a maximum of 10%-20% staff occupancy at their Beijing headquarters, two other people familiar with the matter said.
“Fear among staff of contracting COVID appears to be incredibly high in Beijing at the moment, as one would assume the virus would travel through the city very quickly,” said Tom Simpson, managing director and lead representative of the China UK Business Council.
He added, “There’s a new fear among people of contracting COVID, and that’s stopping people from going into offices, and companies in general aren’t forcing people in, either.”
According to a representative from the EU Chamber of Commerce in China, its members are now planning scenarios in which they can continue their public operations despite the high number of cases.
“This is not an easy task at the moment, as there is still a huge discrepancy between the guidelines related to the epidemic in different cities and regions… Since we are now three years into the epidemic, most companies have taken steps to facilitate their employees to work remotely,” said the representative.