In Turkey, the Covid-19 cases continue to increase due to its recent variant Omicron. Consequently, the banking sector has returned to working from home as a safety measure to prevent the fast spread of the virus.
In most countries, companies are taking a step back to the original plans to return to the office early this year. Because of Omicron, authorities encourage companies to make their employees work from home until the situation stabilizes.
Banks in Turkey Returned to the Remote Work Model
While the retail division of the banks continues working at full capacity, the corporate, commercial, and private banking sectors have started to operate at 50% of their capacity in Istanbul. But, half of the personnel in relevant departments in Istanbul, where cases have significantly increased, returned to the remote working system. During the past weekend, the country registered more than 60,000 new COVID-19 cases.
Last year, most banks chose a hybrid work model, but eventually, most of their personnel came to the office. But currently, they have returned to working remotely to prevent the spread of Covid.
Garanti BBVA, the second largest bank in Turkey, announced the past week that they’ve changed to a remote working model again, mostly for its head office employees. Denizbank, Turkey’s 5th largest lender, has nearly 80% of its personnel working from home.
Other public banks have also returned to remote work during last week.
