Wall Street bends rigid rules for employees' flexibility

Much of the banking industry saw remote working as just a pandemic blip and even relied on employees to keep coming in when closings turned Midtown Manhattan into a ghost town. But now, employees are embracing a much kinder and gentler Wall Street. With many workers resisting to return-to-office and with competition for bank talent rising, many managers are coming around to work from home- or at least acknowledging it’s not a fight they can win.

Employees who are given the option to skip "horrible commutes" and work from home are happier and more productive, says Mr. Narattil, president of the Swiss bank UBS in the Americas. It looks like flexibility is the new mantra for many banks that are shifting to more work-from-home days and hours that adjust to suit family needs. 

Big names like UBS, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, HSBC and BNY Mellon have all announced plans for flexible work. Even the nation's biggest bank JPMorgan Chase expects that only about half its employees will return to the office five days a week. Jamie Dimon, the bank's chief executive wrote in his annual shareholder letter that he believed 10 percent of JPMorgan’s roughly 271,000 employees could eventually work from home.

Source: The New York Times