An employee at the world's second-biggest PR firm Weber Shandwick tested positive for COVID-19 - read the internal memo
- Weber Shandwick, one of the world's largest PR firms, confirmed in an internal memo that an employee in its New York headquarters has tested positive for COVID-19.
- The memo says the employee was last in the office on March 11 and began displaying symptoms on March 16.
- The firm said it told the employee and certain colleagues to self-quarantine.
- This is the second coronavirus-related matter at Weber after leaders learned March 10 that two New York employees had come into close contact with someone who later tested positive for the disease.
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An internal memo to staff at the New York City headquarters of PR firm Weber Shandwick confirmed that an employee who works in the building has tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
Weber Shandwick, part of ad holding company IPG, was the second-largest PR firm in the world by revenue in 2019, according to the Holmes Report.
Read the full memo from Jean Lee Swagert, chief human resources officer, below.
Earlier, the firm confirmed two other people had been exposed and IPG CEO Michael Roth encouraged employees to work from home
The memo states that Weber Shandwick had already notified the people who had been in close contact with the unnamed employee before the memo went out just before 3 PM today.
A spokesperson for Constituent Management Group, IPG's PR division, said all Weber Shandwick employees have been notified and that the building's landlord has been instructed to tell other tenants.
Today's memo is the second acknowledgement of a coronavirus-related matter at Weber Shandwick.
A spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider last week that leadership learned March 10 that two New York employees had come into close contact with someone who later tested positive for the disease.
And at the parent company level, IPG CEO Michael Roth March 13 sent out a memo encouraging employees in North America and Europe to talk to their managers about working from home and said all agency offices would remain open.
According to the memo, that policy remains in place, and employees should only come into the office if it is "absolutely essential."
Read the memo below.