- Charles Schwab said on Wednesday in an email to employees that it would distribute $1,000 spot bonuses to employees below the officer level as part of its coronavirus response, Business Insider has confirmed.
- The San Francisco brokerage and wealth management firm’s move, which follows some technology companies’ similar offers as part of responses to the pandemic, excludes contract workers.
- Charles Schwab, which is set to close on its TD Ameritrade acquisition later this year, also told non-essential employees they could work from home starting on Thursday.
- Visit BI Prime for more stories.
Charles Schwab said on Wednesday in an email to employees that it would distribute $1,000 bonuses to employees below the level of firm officer, a gesture that excludes contract workers, as part of its response to try and cushion the blow of disruption from the novel coronavirus.
The San Francisco-based brokerage and wealth management firm’s move follows some technology companies’ similar offers as part of internal responses to the pandemic that has spread around the world in recent weeks.
The firm, which is set to close on its TD Ameritrade acquisition later this year, also told non-essential employees they could work from home starting on Thursday.
Charles Schwab reported around 19,700 employees through Dec. 31, a group it defines as full-time, part-time, and temporary staffers, as well as “persons employed on a contract basis.”
“A lot of people are working around the clock to ensure we are living up to both of our responsibilities: caring for our people and serving clients — both of whom are trying to navigate this pandemic,” a spokesperson told Business Insider. “We have been working to shift the proportion of those working remotely as quickly as possible.”
Critical employees who will continue working in Charles Schwab’s 360 branches include those working in areas like network operations, cybersecurity, trading, and call centers, the spokesperson said, adding the firm would implement practices in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
On Tuesday, Facebook made a similar decision to distribute $1,000 bonuses to employees as part of its coronavirus response, The Information first reported. Later, The Intercept reported Facebook’s gesture excluded contract workers, among the most financially vulnerable of a firm’s workforce.
Workday, the enterprise software company, said on Monday it would give $1,000 to employees excluding those vice president-level executives and above, as well as “certain senior individual contributors,” CNBC earlier reported.
Charles Schwab’s move comes as financial services firms scramble to respond to the outbreak and try to keep operations running smoothly. Earlier on Wednesday, Business Insider first reported that TD Ameritrade, which Schwab said last fall it planned to buy for $26 billion, would begin suspending in-person customer visits to its 260 US branches beginning on Thursday.
Business Insider has previously mapped out each of the two firms’ 600-plus branches, utilizing their official lists of branch locations. Schwab’s network is around double that of TD Ameritrade’s.
The novel coronavirus has infected at least 214,894 people and killed at least 8,732 worldwide as of March 18.
Leave a Reply
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
