Manulife to begin full return to Canadian offices on April 25

Manulife Financial is planning a full reopening of its Canadian offices starting April 25, building on a partial worker return that the insurer and asset manager started this month.

Manulife Financial Corp. is planning a full reopening of its Canadian offices starting April 25, building on a partial worker return that the insurer and asset manager started this month.

Staffers will work on a hybrid model, coming into the office on Mondays, Wednesdays and a third day each week to be determined by their teams, according to a memo from Mike Doughty, head of Manulife Canada. Unvaccinated employees also will be allowed to return, though they will have certain testing requirements, according to the memo.

Major Canadian financial institutions including Bank of Nova Scotia and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce have announced plans to start bringing workers back to the office as the wave of omicron-variant hospitalizations fades. Manulife’s latest plan builds on the partial reopening of four major Canadian offices that started March 14. 

“The feedback so far has been great, with many using this period to get comfortable returning to an office setting, figure out commutes, and balance work and home needs,” Doughty said in the memo.

Toronto-based Manulife is known in the U.S. for selling insurance and retirement products through its John Hancock unit.