Will this finally kill off WFH?

JPMorgan is reputedly planning a major change to its return-to-office policy that could signal a significant shift in the whole employment market.

The US banking giant – which employs 300,000 people globally, and 22,000 in the UK – is reportedly ready to call time on hybrid working. Reports suggest it will insist all employees are back at their desks for the full week, Monday to Friday.

This move is part of a broader post-pandemic trend, not just among major US banks. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon is similarly keen on having workers at their desks.

Amazon, the online retailer, has transitioned staff from three days a week in the office to five, while advertising giant WPP, with more than 100,000 employees, has informed its workforce that a growing number of clients are moving in the same direction. WPP will require staff to be in the office a minimum of four days a week, up from three, with at least two Fridays a month mandatory.

What started as a trickle is turning into a flood. Just a couple of years ago, there was speculation about the demise of Canary Wharf, with its empty desks. However, with a workplace counterrevolution now underway, those predictions seem premature. Managers prefer to have their employees where they can see them, especially in client-centred businesses, which dominate the City of London.

But the move is by no means universal – not yet, anyway.

Mark Regnier, the CEO of Santander UK, which has 19,500 people on its payroll, made working from home a few days a week a condition of his taking on the role, which paid a cool £3.3m in 2023. He is no hypocrite, only expecting to see his staff in the office three days a week too.

A banker friend of mine, whose employer is also a flexible-friendly place to work (three days a week in their case), says there have been no signs of any move back to the old ways. They talked of “finding the right balance” and the results are just fine there. But how long before they are considered outliers?

There is the potential here for a clash between the government and business. As part of Labour’s “new deal” for workers, flexible working is supposed to be the rule, not the exception, “where practicable”. I rather suspect that “practicable” is going to be doing some heavy lifting on the part of employers as this picks up steam.

Another policy aim is to have people working for longer while reducing the numbers of those deemed “economically inactive” – a term work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall is no fan of – through ill health and disability.

Hybrid – or full-scale working from home – is particularly helpful for those of us with disabilities.

Its increasing rarity vastly increases the challenges faced by this group of workers. The charity Scope estimates that there are one million disabled people who want to work but can’t find jobs. It says the disability employment gap – the comparison of employment rates among disabled workers with those of their non-disabled peers – sits at 29 per cent. That is less of a gap than it is a gaping chasm.

There are clearly some benefits to being office-based. My friend talks of the value of interactions with fellow staffers, of sitting down for a quick coffee and getting things done that way.

Former Yahoo boss Marissa Mayer once preached the virtues of “water-cooler conversations” when she barred working from home.

Mayer infamously built a creche next door to her office so she could be closer to her son. It was at her own expense but as CEO, she didn’t lack money. Yahoo’s employees were less than impressed.

Did I mention that this happened more than a decade ago? The debate was underway long before the pandemic shuttered offices up and down the country and catalysed a revolution.

JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs are, of course, prestigious names. People who work there like their friends, acquaintances and former schoolmates to know about it. The same is arguably true of WPP. More to the point, they offer high rewards. You’ll put up with a lot if your salary package runs to seven figures or if that is something you imagine is in your future.

This makes it easier for the likes of Solomon and JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon to enforce these edicts than it is for some of their peers. Their people might grumble but they’ll put up with it.

But if the talent does start to drift towards rivals with more flexible policies, will they change tack?

It’s well known that women, in particular, value flexible working practices. Only a handful can afford to build their own creche. If you can attract more ambitious, talented and highly qualified women by allowing hybrid working, that could confer a powerful competitive advantage on your business.

The market is the boss of bosses. It will have a role to play in how far the scales tip back towards the office.