Some Wall Streeters are fed up with their unvaccinated coworkers
As Wall Street scrambles to find safe ways to return its bankers to the office as the Delta variant surges, some financiers have found a scapegoat for the mess: the unvaccinated.
“Most employees on Wall Street want vaccine mandates for anyone returning to the office,” Kathryn Wylde, president of Partnership for New York, told The Post, citing recent surveys.
Some insiders take it a step further.
“If you’re someone who is not vaccinated on Wall Street, you’re considered a loser,” one Wall Streeter told The Post.
At JPMorgan, where the bank has reinstated a mask mandate for all employees regardless of vaccination status, some workers blame the unvaccinated as the reason everyone has to wear masks, according to sources close to the firm. Indeed, some JPMorgan employees have kvetched about having to accommodate those stubbornly refusing to get the COVID shot, the sources said.
Other JPMorgan insiders counter that such thinking is simply wrong, noting that the company is just following the latest CDC guidance that encourages masking indoors regardless of vaccination status. Employees are happy to follow the new rules, they say.
But at Goldman Sachs, it is only the unvaccinated who must wear masks — a visible sign, according to some employees, of their second-class status. On the trading floor at Goldman’s lower Manhattan headquarters at 200 West St., the jab-less are forced to sit at least a few seats away from the rest of their fully vaccinated teams, sources told The Post. The unvaccinated also are tested for coronavirus twice a week.
As with JPMorgan, some insiders at Goldman insist the dustup over vaccinations is overblown. If anything, the unvaccinated attract more sympathy than anything else as they’re the ones facing the consequences of not getting the shot, according to one Goldman insider.
“They probably feel slightly isolated,” the Goldman employee told The Post. “But where I am is very inclusive and relaxed.”
Reps for JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs declined to comment.
Across America, roughly 57 percent of people are vaccinated, but at top Wall Street firms, that number is north of 90 percent. As such, the unvaccinated may be susceptible to being viewed as a small minority standing in the way of getting back to business as usual.
“They are certainly social outliers and maybe social pariahs,” one bank employee told The Post. “Whether it’s explicit or implicit, there will be a view about that employee — people will question whether they can do their jobs.”
“Wall Street is all about evidence and if you can’t connect the dots to get vaccinated, how can you connect dots to get deals done?” this person added.
Banks including Morgan Stanley and Citigroup are making it clear they want employees back at their desks come September. But they’re telling employees who haven’t gotten the jab to stay home — essentially excluding them from any office connection.
Other firms are taking an even harder line. At Anthony Scaramucci’s investment fund SkyBridge Capital, people who don’t get vaccinated will get fired. “It’s get vaxxed or axed at SkyBridge,” Scaramucci told The Post.
Scaramucci believes those who aren’t immunized could pose too much of a risk to their colleagues when SkyBridge brings people back to the office this fall. As a result, they will be getting the boot.
“Not getting vaccinated is a horrifically selfish thing based on a lack of science,” Scaramucci added. “I’m passionate about this issue because I have an IQ above 100.”