Small banks are more likely to order employees back to the office than big ones

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase Co. have been leading the charge to get employees into the office more often, but it’s their smaller industry peers who are more likely to demand full-time on-site work. While just 4 percent of banks with 5,000 or more employees require full-time office attendance, nearly a third of the smallest banks in the cohort demand it, according to a survey of 137 US banks employing 4.4 million people from Scoop Technologies Inc., which advises firms on flex-work policy. The policy differences could be influencing where bankers want to work: The share of larger banks’ new employees that are coming from smaller banks has increased to 26.8 percent this year, up from 22.6 percent in 2021, according to jobmarket data tracker Revelio Labs. Banks with fewer employees are also more likely to let employees choose if they come into an office at all, while the vast majority of bigger banks use some type of hybrid arrangement, where workers are on-site a few days a week. Of the 66 banks that were added to Scoop’s index over the past year, none of them said they required full-time office attendance. The data contrasts with the much-publicized comments from the leaders of big banks like Jamie Dimon, who has said remote work “doesn’t work.” The smaller banks that demand full-time office work might do so as they face less competition for talent, according to Scoop cofounder and chief executive Rob Sadow. They might also adhere to more traditional workplace norms, he said. — BLOOMBERG NEWS