UK Edition
One of the US’s biggest banks has sent “letters of education” to its home-working staff threatening them with disciplinary action if they fail to meet minimum office attendance.
Bank of America has sent letters to employees who have avoided their desks despite “requests and reminders” to meet the required number of working days in the office.
One letter shared online by a Bank of America employee said: “Failure to follow the workplace excellence expectations applicable to your role within two weeks of the date of this notification may result in further disciplinary action.”
The bank has been writing to affected staff since last autumn, the Financial Times reported. Bank of America has required most of its employees to be in the office at least three days a week since October 2022.
It is understood that Bank of America’s back-to-the office push is targeted mainly at its branches across the US rather than its international operations, including London.
The US lender is the latest investment bank to crackdown on office shirkers as companies increasingly water down remote-working policies.
Renewed efforts to enforce in-office requirements comes amid sweeping layoffs across the industry as banks look to restructure their business and cut costs in response to high interest rates and a deal-making slowdown.
Major banks were among the first to call thousands back to their office desks in 2021 after the Government scrapped its work-from-home guidance.
However, City bosses were forced to ramp up enforcement efforts after scores of home-working employees refused to return to pre-pandemic norms.
JP Morgan, the largest bank in the US, last year threatened investment bankers with “corrective action” if they worked from home too much.
Meanwhile, Wall Street institution Goldman Sachs, which requires employees to be in the office five days a week, recently told junior bankers they could not expense after-hours meals if they were working from home.
HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Investec are also among the banks that have ordered employees to work from the office more frequently.
Bank of America’s office attendance requirements are understood to be met by the vast majority of workers.
It comes after it reportedly made layoffs across Asia as China’s weak recovery and global political tensions weigh down on deal-making.
Bank of America declined to comment.