World of HR: Financial firms with employees in Saudi Arabia encourage remote work amid attacks in the region

Yemen’s Houthis have increased attacks on Saudi Arabia in recent weeks, leaving employers and employees in the region potentially vulnerable.

As the US-Israeli war with Iran continues, Iran and its allies have attacked US allies in the region, including the UAE, Oman, and Saudi Arabia.

In response to attacks on Saudi Arabia International Airport and oil company Saudi Aramco, some financial firms, including JPMorgan, Citi, and Deutsche Bank, are allowing employees in the region to work from home, according to Reuters.

JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank offices will remain open for employees who prefer to go in, while Franklin Templeton, a US-based investment firm, shut its Riyadh office for now, and told employees to work remotely.

“Unfortunately, this is not the first disruptive event, and one that has a lot of impact on human life, across the region,” Gonzalo Luchetti, chief financial officer at Citi, told a group of reporters, Banking Dive reported. “The ​safety of our employees and the families of our employees have always been our ​top priority.”

Oil executives from ExxonMobil, Shell, and Chevron backed out of the WPC Energy Congress in Riyadh last week. The FII Conference (also known as “Davos in the desert”) was set to host top executives from Visa, JPMorgan, Softbank, and Meta, but will now take a hybrid format.

It’s unclear how employers in the region may move forward, but the Houthis have threatened to expand attacks on airports and oil facilities, Reuters reported.

When the war began in early 2026, many employers in the UAE encouraged their employees to work from home or allowed them to work from a different country amid the conflict, HR Brew reported previously.

Security consultants told HR Brew at the time that several employers had evacuated workers who had been assigned to work overseas, but that employees originating from the region may have more limited options.