New York City is reopening, vaccinations are accelerating and spring brings with it an air of optimism. For Wall Street’s banks, that means a return to offices may finally be in sight.
At JPMorgan Chase & Co., hundreds of interns are set to work in the lender’s New York and London offices in the coming months. Citigroup Inc. is providing workers with rapid Covid tests as it sketches out its plans to safely return people to its buildings. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has said it hopes to have more employees back by summer.
One year after Wall Street sent employees home in droves to stop the spread of the coronavirus, the prospects of a broad return are starting to get clearer—and not a moment too soon for some companies in the industry. From Zoom fatigue to the exhaustion of jobs colliding with home life, many bankers say the strains of long-term remote work are growing for bosses and underlings alike.
There are exceptions, and signs of growing flexibility as companies such as Apollo Global Management Inc. consider hybrid models. But as other industries look at dramatically reshaping work in a post-Covid world, the stance of New York’s financial giants is clear: Employees should be at offices. It’s just a matter of how quickly—and safely—their leaders can get them there.
“It is very much our goal to be back in the office together,” Evercore Inc. Co-Chief Executive Officer Ralph Schlosstein said in a Bloomberg Television interview Tuesday. “We’re encouraging everybody to get vaccinated as soon as they’re permitted to do so.”
A return for banks would come after many fits and starts, and is dependent on a virus that has proven difficult to control. Indeed, HSBC Holdings Plc’s main Hong Kong office was closed until further notice this week after three people working in the building tested positive for Covid-19.
Wall Street tried to cajole bankers and traders back last fall, when cases were dropping and shops and restaurants began to reopen, only to see those plans falter as Covid-19 roared back in the winter. As of March 3, only 14.5% of New York-area office workers were back, according to data from security company Kastle Systems.
But this time is likely different. Vaccines have arrived and President Joe Biden has asked states to ensure that all adults are eligible for shots by May 1. New York is finally set to reopen its public high schools for in-person learning. Last week, ridership on the subway reached its highest level since the start of the pandemic.
Workers are increasingly eager to get out of the house and back on the road to see colleagues and clients, said Brian Chin, who leads Credit Suisse Group AG’s trading and investment-banking arm.
“There’s only so many Zoom calls you can do,” said Chin, who has said he hopes to get employees back in the office soon. “I do worry about our people.”
Banks remain wary of setting firm dates of when they’ll reopen offices, and the process could stretch for many months. Still, the prospect of companies having to welcome a second class of virtual interns and analysts brings added urgency. Newcomers often used to learn by pulling up a chair behind a senior trader or tagging along during client meetings. That’s a model that’s harder to replicate in the world of video conferencing.