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Bank of America sends warning letters to staff resisting back-to-office plan
https://www.whatjobs.com/news/usa/us-employment-news/bank-of-america-sends-warning-letters-to-staff-resisting-back-to-office-plan
By Nithya Bose in Business News, posted January 25, 2024
Bank of America has taken disciplinary action against employees who are not adhering to its return-to-office policy.
The banking giant has issued "letters of education" warnings to those who continue to persistently work from home.
Some staff received a letter stating they didn’t meet the company's "workplace excellence guidelines" despite “requests and reminders to do so.”
Bank of America is the latest among the companies mandating in-person work.
Citigroup and Meta have been monitoring office attendance, typically under a hybrid model of three days in the office and two days working remotely.
They also sent similar disciplinary warnings if employees failed to show up.
It’s a significant shift from the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when remote work was the norm for office workers.
Wall Street firms, in particular, have been at the forefront of reintroducing office work since 2021.
Most adopted some form of mandatory office attendance.
This list includes major players like JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and Barclays, all introducing a three-day office requirement.
The current push for office attendance represents a change from the pre-pandemic era, where remote work was less common.
Before the pandemic, only three percent of American workers worked remotely part-time.
According to Goldman Sachs, this figure has since risen to about a quarter.
Goldman Sachs also requires its employees to work full-time in the office.
The bank said the pandemic has led to structural changes allowing for more flexible hybrid work policies.
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Despite the push from some companies for more in-office work, hybrid work arrangements are likely to persist.
A recent survey of American CEOs indicated that only a small fraction plan to prioritize full-time office work in 2024.
Additionally, a Deloitte survey in November found that 65 percent of chief financial officers intend to maintain hybrid work models.
Some surveys suggest that many employees prefer a mix of office and remote work.
However, being forced back to the office can negatively impact job satisfaction without improving company performance, per recent studies.
Nick Bloom, Stanford professor and remote work researcher, wrote: “Today’s new companies have nearly twice as many days worked from home as those founded 20 years ago.
“In 10 years, expect to see leading chief executives and entrepreneurs actively embracing hybrid work rather than begging employees to return to the office.”
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