RICHMOND, Va. -- In response to the global coronavirus outbreak, several Richmond area companies are taking precautions by asking their employees to work from home.
Capital One
The CEO of Capital One Financial Corp. has requested that its employees work from home beginning Thursday in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
In a letter sent to employees, CEO Richard Fairbank encouraged staff to begin working from home starting this week until further notice, joining other companies across the country that have implemented work from home policies amid the growing coronavirus outbreak.
While there are no known cases of Coronavirus among Capital One employees, Fairbank said that the company is "taking further steps to encourage and enable social distancing," in order to reduce the chain of transmission and slow the spread of the virus. Prior to the memo, Capital One had ceased non-essential travel and canceled internal events.
For associates who cannot work from home, the firm plans to space out employees to "reduce density" in work spaces.
Genworth Financial
Richmond-based Genworth Financial is encouraging all employees in all locations to work from home for the foreseeable future, beginning Thursday.
The company says the response is not to a specific incident involving one of their employees, rather the World Health Organization declaring the ongoing coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.
“It is about doing our part to protect our colleagues, our families, our customers and our communities from the virus,” said a company spokesperson. “Having recently tested our work-from-home capabilities, we are confident in our ability to continue to serve our customers with a minimum of disruption.”
The company says they have closed their Lynchburg campuses earlier Wednesday through the end of the week, out of an abundance of caution after an employee came to work with cold-like symptoms.
Officials say arrangements are being made for that employee to be tested.
This list will be updated
