By Nupur Anand and Isla Binnie
(Reuters) -U.S. bank JPMorgan Chase asked its employees who are on hybrid work schedules to return to the office five days a week starting in March, an internal memo seen by Reuters on Friday showed.
Financial companies have been aggressive in enforcing return-to-office demands, with many staff being called back as early as 2021.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and counterparts at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have been strong advocates of working from the office, saying it fosters better learning, innovation and culture.
More than half of JPMorgan’s employees already come into the office full time, according to the memo from the bank’s operating committee. It has more than 316,000 staff worldwide.
“Now is the right time to solidify our full-time in-office approach,” the executives wrote. “We think it is the best way to run the company.”
A JPMorgan spokesperson declined to comment.
“We know that some of you prefer a hybrid schedule and respectfully understand that not everyone will agree with this decision,” Dimon and other leaders wrote in the memo. “Being together greatly enhances mentoring, learning, brainstorming and getting things done.”
Essential workers at lenders, including bank branch employees reported for in-person work throughout the pandemic. JPMorgan called corporate staff back to offices on a rotational basis in mid-2021 after months of pandemic shutdowns, and brought managing directors back to the office full time in 2023.
The largest U.S. lender said that employees will be given at least 30 days’ notice before they are expected to return to offices full time. The employees were also directed to seek manager approval if they needed more time to prepare.
“What is not changing is our support for flexibility in the workplace, which we are committed to providing at every level in a fair way,” the bank said.
The memo also included a link to a list of frequently asked questions, giving details about special exceptions for remote work, flexibility for personal reasons and attendance logs.
(Reporting by Nupur Anand and Isla Binnie in New York, additional reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru, Editing by Shilpi Majumdar, Lananh Nguyen and Jane Merriman)
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