Work From Home No More?

During the past two and a half years, many white-collar employees worked from home, or, in some cases, from Starbucks, shared work spaces and even while attempting to vacation away from home. While the jury is still out on whether work-from-home is an enduring and/or healthy model, there is one major industry that is aggressively pushing for a complete (or nearly complete) return to office: the financial services industry. Top executives at several of the largest financial services firms are loudly advocating for a strict return to office policy, along with anecdotal reports of routine attendance checks.

Yet despite this trend, the New York Post reported that a majority of junior bankers are pushing to continue hybrid work rather than returning to the office five days a week.  Large accounting firms and large law firms, who service these financial services firms, have adopted widely divergent policies: some accounting firms have shifted to a nearly complete work-from-home model, while many law firms prefer employees to be in the office a fair amount of time.  It remains to be seen where financial services firms will land on this issue, and in turn if those firms’ legal and accounting service providers will align their policies accordingly.