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UBS plans to allow up to two-thirds of its staff to mix work from home and office on a permanent basis, betting that this approach will give the Swiss lender an advantage over Wall Street banks when hiring.
The move to adopt a hybrid work model has been led by CEO Ralph Hamers and his top executives, according to people familiar with the issue, and underscores the growing chasm with the tougher approach taken by many US banks.
The Swiss bank has decided that only employees who require office functions due to supervisory rules or to carry out specific tasks, such as traders and branch staff, will have little or no flexibility in their work practices.
An internal analysis of its global workforce of 72,000 troops showed that approximately two-thirds were in positions that would allow hybrids to work, according to people familiar with the subject.
UBS’s position echoes that of European colleagues such as the French Societe Generale, but contrasts with the approach taken by several US banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, which have ordered New York staff to return to work.
After more than a year in which most bankers have worked from home offices, vacant rooms and kitchen tables, the UBS decision indicates that a legacy of the pandemic may be a fundamental division in labor practices between European and American banks.
HSBC UK based banks and Standard Chartered they have announced plans to allow staff to work from home or in places “close to home” to reduce the office footprint and prevent commuting to the city.
In an internal message to staff published last week and seen by the Financial Times, UBS said that “we are committed to offering you the flexibility for hybrid work (a combination of working from the office and from home) where the role, tasks and location allow ”.
However, even staff offering hybrid jobs will still have to attend the office for certain activities, as agreed with their manager.
The bank, headquartered in Zurich, has not yet set a date by which staff will have to return to the office. UBS declined to comment.
By contrast, Goldman staff have already been ordered back to the New York bank headquarters, while U.S. employees of JPMorgan are expected to move to regular office hours starting July 6.
James Gorman, CEO of Morgan Stanley, has been the more shrill by calling staff to return to the office. “If you can go to a restaurant in New York City, you can come into the office and we want you in the office,” he said at a recent company event.
Citigroup is one of the few large U.S. banks to date that has introduced a hybrid work model, with staff authorized to work from home for up to two days a week.
Despite moving only five years ago to 5 Broadgate, one of the largest buildings in the city of London, UBS has long been looking for ways to allow more staff to work from home.
Last year he experimented with issuing London-based merchants augmented reality headphones, which allows them to recreate the experience of working in a commercial plant full of business without leaving home.
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