You may or may not agree with Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman’s stance on remote work, but you have to admire his blunt directness. Gorman, according to the Financial Times, said about his return-to-the-office plan, “If you can go into a restaurant in New York City, you can come into the office.” To underscore his desire for people to return to their respective offices, Gorman said he’d be “very disappointed” if workers have not “found their way into the office” by the Labor Day holiday on September 6.
It was reported that he’d “take a dim view of employees who did not work regularly in the office.” While some tech companies, such as Reddit and Zillow, were open to paying people Silicon Valley wages, even if they relocated to lower-cost locations, Gorman said, “If you want to get paid New York rates, you work in New York.”
Similar to JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s position, Gorman said, “Returning to the office was particularly important for junior members of staff who were training on the job. “[The office is] where we teach, where our interns learn. That’s how we develop people. Where you build all the soft cues that go with having a successful career that aren’t just about Zoom presentations.”
Alleviating safety concerns, the investment bank chief executive pointed out, “More than 90% of Morgan Stanley’s employees who were already working in its offices were now vaccinated.” Sharing vaccination status has been voluntary, dissimilar to rival Goldman Sachs’ position.
It’s interesting to see that old-school Wall Street banks are calling for workers to return to headquarters, while tech companies are championing a flexible hybrid model, including in-office and at-home choices. For instance, Google CEO Sundar Pichai shared his vision of the search giant’s new hybrid return-to-work plans via an internal message from the CEO to his employees. The plan would call for around 60% of Googlers coming together in the office for a few days a week, while another 20% will work in new office locations and 20% are anticipated to work remotely.
David Solomon, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, said on Wednesday that he wants his people back at the office. Solomon, who prides himself as a down-to-earth guy and has a side gig playing DJ for parties and events, dropped the nice-guy schtick, calling remote work an “aberration.” The chief executive, referring to the prevailing sentiment of working remotely, said, “I do think for a business like ours, which is an innovative, collaborative apprenticeship culture, this is not ideal for us. And it’s not a new normal. It’s an aberration that we’re going to correct as soon as possible.”
He’s not alone with these views. JPMorgan required his employees to return to their offices by July. This time it seems real. Dimon previously required his traders, bankers, brokers and research analysts to return to their offices by September 21, 2020 after working from home for the prior six months. The plan didn’t take hold as a trader contracted Covid-19 and JPMorgan sent him home, along with other traders on the equities desk.
In mid-April 2021, the investment bank and financial institution planned to have about 25,000 thousand employees working permanently from home. Dimon said 10% of its 255,000 U.S.-based employees may work from home full time, and others could continue to work remotely for some of the time, according to a letter to shareholders.
Dimon added, “We are welcoming more of you back next month, so that you can get comfortable with being back in an office environment.” Recognizing the challenges involved, he said,“This may take some time. We would fully expect that by early July, all U.S.-based employees will be in the office on a consistent rotational schedule.”
Dimon wasn’t sold on operating virtually. He said, “Most professionals learn their job through an apprenticeship model, which is almost impossible to replicate in the Zoom world.” The CEO expressed his concern, “Over time, this drawback could dramatically undermine the character and culture [of the company.]” According to JPMorgan, relying too much upon “Zoom meetings actually slows down decision making because there is little immediate follow-up.” With remote work, there is an absence of “spontaneous learning and creativity because you don’t run into people at the coffee machine, talk with clients in unplanned scenarios or travel to meet with customers and employees for feedback on your products and services.”
Other top banks are starting to share their return-to-the-office timeline. Sara Wechter, the head of human resources at Citigroup, said in a LinkedIn post, “With expanded distribution of testing and increasing availability of vaccines against Covid-19, we are hopeful this summer we can safely begin to bring colleagues in North America back to our offices.”
Wechter set forth the following measures that the bank is putting into place:
- We plan to invite more of our colleagues back to the office in July and anticipate up to 30% returning throughout the summer. We are hoping to bring additional colleagues back in September.
- We will continue to practice social distancing efforts and require face masks. These measures will stay in place until the data tells us it’s safe to make a change.
- To further protect our colleagues and help to decrease the transmission of Covid-19, we plan to offer at-home testing to those who return to the workplace.
- We know the pandemic has taken its toll and remain committed to supporting our colleagues by offering resources to balance work, life and wellbeing.
Wechter expressed her appreciation of Citi’s employees stating, “I’m so grateful for our colleagues, especially those who have worked onsite throughout the pandemic to support our company, clients and communities. Thank you!”
Source: Forbes
I don’t recall the waiter hovering over me asking how my weekend was, touching my desk, touching me without permission, sitting in a conference room elbow to elbow hours on end at a table that hasn’t been wiped in weeks…..