It’s a short stroll from Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s global headquarters to Citigroup Inc.’s, but when it comes to reopening after the pandemic, the two Manhattan towers might as well be thousands of miles apart.
Starting this morning, Goldman Sachs is requiring almost all employees at its perch over the Hudson River to report to their desks, marking one of Wall Street’s most ambitious returns to the workplace since Covid-19 besieged the city more than a year ago. Meanwhile, Citigroup won’t recall more of its staff to its mostly empty Tribeca tower in downtown Manhattan until July. Even then, the firm has told most workers that they can adopt a so-called hybrid schedule between home and the office longer term.
Such divergences are popping up across Manhattan’s mighty financial industry, creating pockets of optimism within the city’s economy, but widespread anxiety inside workplaces. Bosses worry their teams will be less competitive if members are slow to come back. Parents fret about losing remote-work flexibility, but also that young, single colleagues and competitors may rush back sooner and soak up face time with executives or clients.
“Women are absolutely nervous about it,” said Rob Dicks, Accenture Plc’s talent and organization lead for capital markets. “I’m seeing the HR and business leaders at banks recognizing, understanding and starting to plan around fairness in evaluations.”
Still it’s hard to draw broad conclusions about whether such issues will take root in the industry, because no two Wall Street firms seem to be taking the same approach. The scene is similarly disjointed in London, where many banks are still hashing out plans.
A leading proponent of getting people back to the office quickly, as well as an amateur DJ, Goldman Chief Executive Officer David Solomon marked the end of his bank’s work-from-home era on Friday by releasing a new single titled “Learn to Love Me.” His bank, which has been ramping up in-person staffing for months, told employees who hadn’t yet returned that they had until Monday to figure out how they’re coming back.
Early this morning, employees high-fived and hugged each other as they streamed into Goldman’s Manhattan office in the drizzling rain. They’ll be greeted by free food in the cafeteria and an array of food trucks with music blaring all week.
Atop Citigroup, CEO Jane Fraser is still offering more flexibility to staff as vaccination campaigns continue, younger children await access to shots and some child-care options, such as summer camps, have yet to fully reopen. Her decisions on how to handle the process are among the biggest she’s made since ascending to the top job a few months ago. And as she starts to put her mark on the company, the situation may give her an early opportunity to differentiate Citigroup as an employer.
Among others moving quickly, JPMorgan Chase & Co. has already begun refilling its skyscraper on Madison Avenue while its true headquarters on Park Avenue is under construction. The nation’s largest bank has told all U.S. employees to prepare to return early next month, but the tower will still be capped at 50% occupancy.
Elsewhere in Midtown, senior managers at Bank of America Corp. have started making their way into the office. The firm isn’t expecting a broader return of staff until the fall.
“We’re concentrating on the vaccinated,” Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said today in an interview on CNBC. “But we’ve got to make sure the unvaccinated can come back in a mode that’s constructive.”
The bank recently started asking employees to disclose their status and now has tens of thousands in the U.S. who have received the shots. Those employees are being invited back and being given 30 days notice to return. Across the industry, many are eager to come back. Moynihan said he was at a wedding over the weekend and spoke with a “bunch of young kids” who work for competitors. “They’re tired of working out of their rooms.”