Catherine Bessant, Bank of America Vice Chair and Global Strategy Leader, told CNBC’s work summit that the company is focused on getting all employees back to the office.
It’s not news that Wall Street company’s aren’t excited about the idea of permanent remote work. During the past months, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon and Stanley Morgan CEO James Gorman were among the first to express their concerns about working remotely. Although working from home enabled companies to continue their regular working pace in the pandemic, most of them don’t see it as a solution for the long term.
Bank of America Wants Employees Back in the Office
Bank of America, as the majority of companies in the U.S. and the world, went remote during the pandemic. The company focused on providing employees with all the equipment and tools they needed to work from home comfortably. In 2020, the back received more patents than ever before. And although they succeeded while working remotely, they no longer see it as a priority.
Catherine Bessant defends that the company has worked from office culture. They believe that they produce a better and more sustainable outcome when everyone is in the office.
“Our people after 18 months are fatigued, and they performed brilliantly. But I think I as a leader question the sustainability of innovation, the sustainability of engagement and culture building in a perpetual remote office or remote environment. That’s why we’re very focused on getting our people back to the office” Catherine Bessant
Bank of America has more than 20,000 employees, and according to Brian Moynihan, Bank of America CEO, most of them want to return to the office. In June, he told CNBC that especially young employees were ‘’tired of working out of their rooms.’’
Although most banks had originally planned to return in the summer have to delay their plans because of the delta variant. In most cases, they are focusing on having employees return gradually.
