U.S. and

Canadian banks

are summoning staffers back to their offices at a faster rate than European rivals, widening the divide in one of finance’s defining workplace debates.

Five years after

COVID-19

pushed most staffers into temporary home working, just seven of Europe’s 15 most valuable banks have asked some or all of their staff to spend four or more days in the office a week, according to a Bloomberg analysis. That figure rises to 11 across a group of 15 of the most valuable banks in North America.

While the headline numbers don’t capture the nuance of, say, trading teams that might need to meet regulatory requirements for full-time office attendance in certain countries, the difference in overall approach is clear.

Those 15 banks in Canada and the U.S. now have an average of 4.2 days a week as their strictest demand for some or all of their staff, the analysis shows. In Europe, the average requirement is 3.4 days on the same basis and no major European bank has summoned all of their staff back five days a week.

The opposing views of one-time colleagues Bill Winters and

Jamie Dimon

illustrate how far industry leaders on both sides of the Atlantic are from reaching consensus on the future of work.

“We work with adults,” Winters, chief executive officer of London-based Standard Chartered Plc, told Bloomberg TV on July 31 about his support for home-working. “The adults can have an adult conversation with other adults and decide how they’re going to best manage their team.”

JPMorgan Chase & Co.

’s Dimon has little time for workers who disagree with his five-days-a-week requirement, telling staff in February not to “waste time” opposing it with a petition.

“I completely applaud your right to not want to go to the office every day. But you’re not going to tell JPMorgan what to do,” he told Bloomberg TV in a follow-up interview, after acknowledging he regretted the tone of his viral moment.

European banks have long bemoaned their competitive disadvantage, and the fact that their shares have lagged behind U.S. competitors and their own book value. Some analysts see the

work-from-home

divide as an extension of that phenomenon, with Wall Street’s more prosperous banks in a better position to dictate terms.

“It’s their way or the highway,” said Mike Mayo, a veteran banks analyst at Wells Fargo, referring to

Wall Street

banks generally. He argued that a strong commitment to office working is a “sign of a hungry and intensive culture, a team that wants to win” and that firms with more staff on site will benefit from the synergies and efficiencies.

Still, Mayo offered

Citigroup Inc.

as evidence against the idea of a “one size fits all” answer to whether it’s better to call staff in or leave them their own devices.

Midway through a painful multi-year restructuring, Citi is sticking to three days a week, aside from roles where regulators mandate full office attendance. It has given staff a bonus two weeks of “work from anywhere” in August.

“If Citi is going to offer more job flexibility to get better talent at a time when they have fallen, that could make sense for them,” said Mayo. “They might get some good talent, someone who is exceptional and values that flexibility.” Citi declined to comment on its approach.

Among Asian lenders, a variety of policies are on display. While many Japanese banks have embraced hybrid work some Australian banks have started to bring more employees back, tying employee reviews to attendance. Mainland Chinese banks restored full work weeks in the office shortly after China ended COVID-19 lockdowns in early 2023.

European approach

In Europe, even the most profitable banks use hybrid work as a talent retention tool.

Among them is Spain’s BBVA, frequently one of Europe’s best earning lenders and steadfastly committed to two days work from home, a model its head of talent and culture Paul Tobin said “helps us attract and retain great talent.”

Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, whose second quarter beat expectations, requires workers to spend 50 per cent of their time in the office.

“Returns at the European banks are the highest they’ve been for a generation and I suspect they see no urgency behind changing it,” said Andrew Stimpson, head of European banks research at KBW. “If anything, they may feel that they can be less competitive on pay if they are more competitive on flexible working.”

That chimes with research at Pittsburgh University, which published a study in January 2024 examining work-from-home mandates across firms in

the S&P 500 index.

The team looked at firms’ policies, employee satisfaction, profitability and share price.

Mark Ma, a professor at Pittsburgh and one of the study’s authors, said the work had found “firms are more likely to impose RTO mandates after poor stock market performance.” He said the current RTO push in the U.S. reflects a cooler labour market, resulting in a power shift back to management.

The potential rewards for such a strategy is unclear, at least academically. Ma’s work found that “financial performance doesn’t change after RTO mandates.” It also found “significant declines in employees’ job satisfactions” when policies were tightened.

A factor complicating such crackdowns in Europe is the need for extensive consultation with workforces over potential changes, which can make the process longer.

Societe Generale SA is moving to a maximum of one day a week of remote work across the group to equalize a patchwork of policies across regions. But the changes won’t come into force in France until September 2026, a spokeswoman said. At Bank of Ireland, a trade union representing workers has told them not to comply with requirements to come to the office eight days a month, which are due to come into force on Sept. 1.

Deutsche Bank AG

faced resistance a year ago when it told workers to come to the office three days a week.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if somewhat of a gap remains going forward,” said Bonnie Dowling, partner at McKinsey & Co. of the transatlantic divide, noting the moves London in particular has made “to promote commercial to residential space conversions.”

  • Work-from-home starting to look more remote
  • BMO employees to start working four days in office

Still, for Davide Serra, a bank investor who founded Algebris Asset Management almost 20 years ago, the way ahead is clear.

Given Dimon’s track record “following his advice is smarter than not for a very large organization with thousands of people for sure,” Serra said.

With assistance from Sam Nagarajan, Cathy Chan, Taiga Uranaka, Adam Haigh, Chanyaporn Chanjaroen, Siddhi Nayak and Sonia Sirletti

Bloomberg.com