JPMorgan Chase & Co. is offering to reimburse Hong Kong employees up to $5,000 to compensate for their quarantine stay as the financial hub sticks to its zero-Covid policy.

All Hong Kong-based employees who are executive directors and below may claim the amount for a single quarantine stay for personal trips to visit immediate family members, which includes spouses, domestic partners, children, parents and grandparents, according to an internal memo. A Hong Kong-based spokeswoman confirmed the content.

The move follows a visit to Hong Kong by JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, who was exempted from the city’s stringent quarantine and said the restrictions were making it harder for the bank to retain talent. Dimon’s trip was aimed at thanking the bank’s 4,000 employees in city for their dedication during the pandemic.

“We recognize that the costly quarantine measures in place in Hong Kong associated with COVID-19 have impacted many of you with respect to visiting family and loved ones overseas,” JPMorgan’s Hong Kong chief Harshika Patel said in the memo. The program applies to employees under quarantine between Dec. 1, 2021 and Nov. 30, 2022, the memo said.

A stay at Hong Kong’s designated quarantine hotel can cost between HK$500 ($64.172) to HK$3,630 per night for a non-suite room.

Bloomberg