Work from home

American Express is encouraging staffers in New York and the U.K. to start returning to the office next month as COVID-19 cases recede globally.

Deutsche Bank employees returned to the lender's headquarters in New York on Monday after working from home during the recent surge in COVID cases fueled by the omicron variant.

Bank of America employees have returned or are making their way back in the coming weeks based on their region’s COVID-19 data and medical guidelines, according to people with knowledge of the plans.

In this fireside chat, Ida Liu, the global head of Citi Private Bank, covers a range of topics, including how digital client engagement is evolving.

American Express will give employees two weeks’ notice before it starts bringing a larger number of staffers back to its offices. The credit card giant had previously said it intended to start bringing back employees on Jan. 24.

Wall Street’s push to refill office towers across the country has been derailed again. This time it’s the highly transmissible omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus that’s forced executives to rethink their plans.

Citigroup told staffers in the New York City metropolitan area to work from home again through the holidays if they are able, citing the recent rise in COVID-19 cases in the region.

KeyCorp is “dramatically” increasing the length of parental leave for employees and offering more flexibility for working remotely as part of a number of measures to help retain talent, CEO Chris Gorman says.

Now that dispersed workforces are expected to be the long-term norm, banks are taking steps to maintain a sense of teamwork and giving managers new training in troubleshooting.

Hopes that the pandemic has been curbed have dimmed as infections and hospitalizations are on the rise again due to the introduction of the extremely dangerous Delta strain. For some companies, this has disrupted their plans to bring remote employees back to their offices or institute a "hybrid" arrangement.

The company will now begin bringing back staffers who have been working remotely on Oct. 18, rather than Oct. 4, according to an internal memo Wednesday from Chief Operating Officer Scott Powell.

The Boston-based firm plans to close its two midtown Manhattan offices, the company said. Its New York-based staff will work remotely or from buildings in New Jersey and Connecticut.

Wells Fargo is pushing its return-to-office plans back a month to early October, citing rising COVID-19 rates across the U.S.

The San Francisco company said it will offer workers varying degrees of flexibility based on job type and experience. The bank will also collect data on who has been vaccinated.

CEO Richard Fairbank told employees they can continue to work remotely on Monday and Friday, though the company is still encouraging them to “spend meaningful time” in the office collaborating.

Citigroup joined rivals including UBS Group in touting its flexible work policies as a tool that will offer a competitive edge in recruiting and retaining top staff.

The nation’s largest bank is ordering workers to fill out a questionnaire on their vaccination status by the end of this month, CEO Jamie Dimon and other members of the operating committee wrote in a memo to staff Wednesday.

The policy, outlined in an internal memo, is one of the most restrictive issued by a major U.S. bank so far.

More than 70% of U.S. bank workers expect their employers to allow some flexibility about where and when they do their jobs, according to a new survey from Arizent. The findings suggest that to attract and retain talent, banks will have to continue work-from-home arrangements that became standard during the pandemic.

American Express is planning to allow employees to work from home for at least part of the week on a permanent basis as the finance industry continues to unveil plans to bring staff back to the office.