It is just possible that JPMorgan and Citigroup are both right.
Maybe requiring senior employees to go into the office five days a week will be the best strategy for JPMorgan, while allowing them to work two days a week from home will be the most effective for Citigroup.
Yet it seems unlikely. The odds are that one or other will eventually conclude they were wrong.
Back in 2021, as firms tried to figure out working practices post-pandemic, a big divide opened up. Some managers decided the world had changed forever and opted for some form of hybrid working. In contrast, others wanted to return as much as possible to the old model.
Obviously, remote working is better suited to certain activities than to others, although common assumptions are not always right. Trading bosses were worried that working from home would increase misconduct yet a new paper by researchers at Nottingham and Warwick universities found that the number of incidents actually fell.
Given the apparent advantages and popularity of hybrid working, many observers predicted the traditionalists would eventually change tack. Some have indeed had second thoughts. But in a few high‑profile cases, the attitude has hardened.
JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon has been one of the strongest critics of working from home, arguing that it is not good for younger staff, reduces spontaneity and makes management more difficult. Although JPMorgan has ordered senior employees back to the office full‑time, junior staff will be allowed to continue working two days a week at home.
READ BlackRock calls staff back to the office four days a week
But BlackRock has decreed that all its 20,000 staff must be in the office four days a week (see page 22). This opens a gulf between it and firms such as S&P Global Ratings that have asked staff to be in the office only two days a week.
Yann Le Pallec, head of credit ratings at S&P, says the model is working well, so far. “Our analysts spend a huge amount of time digesting lots of complex information, so they are able to really focus if they have some quiet periods out of the office.
“And, as we operate globally, calls often take place very early or late in the day. Avoiding a commute to the office on those days means they have valuable extra time to play with.”
One firm that has enthusiastically embraced the hybrid model is independent investment bank Lazard, which has been advised by Nicholas Bloom, a Stanford economics professor and remote work guru. The firms that have adapted most successfully are those, like Lazard, that have moved to an “organised hybrid” model where employees have three set days a week for in-office work decided by individual teams, Bloom told a McKinsey podcast.
READ Man Group CFO Antoine Forterre: ‘Hybrid work enables us to attract and retain diverse talent’
Bloom argues that although there are many challenges, particularly for younger employees, these can be overcome. For example, he advocates that new recruits come into the office an extra day a week for mentoring. He also predicts that improvements in technology will make it all easier.
He also says that the evidence so far suggests that hybrid working improves productivity by 3-5% and most employees prefer working two or three days remotely. Then there are the savings in terms of office space. Some firms that have gone to two days a week in the office have cut their space by as much as half.
While the recent moves by the likes of JPMorgan and BlackRock have attracted the headlines, the broader trends seems to be in the other direction. The number of US financial services firms that require staff to be in the office five days a week has fallen from 22% to 20% over the past three months, according to Scoop Technologies, a software firm that monitors the workplace strategies of 4,500 companies.
The fact that New York-based firms such as JPMorgan and BlackRock are taking such a tough line is somewhat surprising — employers say that getting staff back into the office has been particularly hard in New York City, partly because of concerns about the safety of its subway.
Across the broader US economy, the proportion of firms requiring staff to be in the office full-time has fallen from 49% to 42% over the past three months, Scoop told The Wall Street Journal. Employees at firms that have shifted to a hybrid model spend an average of 2.5 days in the office.
READ Atom Bank boss: How a four-day week pushed up profit and lowered staff absence
Many advocates for flexibility believe that the likes of BlackRock will eventually find they suffer in terms of recruitment, retention and productivity. On the contrary, replies the back-to-the-office crowd, it is the flexible working fans that will regret their decision.
The critics of hybrid working argue that the long-term impact on productivity and corporate culture will take time to become clear. Meanwhile, the recruitment advantage for firms offering hybrid working has been blunted by the wave of financial services job cuts; if you are worried about losing your job, you are probably less fussed about how much you are allowed to work from home.
So we may have to wait until the job market recovers to find out who is right.
To contact the author of this story with feedback or news, email David Wighton
