Boss of banking giant Goldman Sachs calls working from home an ‘aberration’ and says he wants staff back in the office as quickly as possible
- Only around 10% of Goldman Sachs’ workforce went into the office last year
- Goldman Sachs joins likes of Barclays’ Jes Staley calling for end of ‘WFH’
- Businesses urged to let people work from home until restrictions lifted in June
The boss of Goldman Sachs has said he wants to get his workforce back to the office as quickly as possible.
Chief executive David Solomon rejected the notion of widespread home working as the new-normal, claiming it is simply an ‘aberration’.
Speaking at a conference last night, Solomon said the culture and ethos of Goldman Sachs meant permanent working from home was not an option for the business or its staff.
Getting back to the office: Goldman Sachs’ boss David Solomon wants his workforce to get back to the office
Last month, Barclays boss Jes Staley said working from home was ‘not sustainable’ for the bank, because it affected collaboration levels and culture at the lender.
‘This is not ideal for us and it’s not a new normal’, Solomon said at a Credit Suisse conference.
He added: ‘It’s an aberration that we are going to correct as quickly as possible.’
Last year, only around 10 per cent of Goldman Sachs’ workforce were in the office, with the vast majority working from home.
Solomon is particularly keen to get the firm’s new recruits into the office in order to give them the best chance to hit the ground running and feel like part of a team.
He is worried about the incoming ‘class of 3,000 new-joiners in need of ‘direct mentorship’ from day one.
‘I am very focused on the fact that I don’t want another class of young people arriving at Goldman Sachs in the summer remotely’, Solomon said.
Quiet: Last year, only around 10% of Goldman Sachs’ workforce were in the office
He added: ‘I don’t think as we get out of the pandemic the overall operating mode of the way a business like ours operates will be vastly different.’
The boss of JP Morgan has also aired concerns about prolonged home working.
Back in September, JP Morgan’s chief executive Jamie Dimon said that working from home had had a negative effect on productivity on the company.
But in contrast, big-name tech giants including Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter have all said that staff will have the option to work from home permanently if they choose to. Facebook believes that up to half of its staff could work remotely within five to ten years.
However, the US-based tech giant has also hinted that staff who work from home permanently may have to agree to receiving lower pay than their office-based counterparts.
While lockdown restrictions in England will start to ease up in March, the Government’s work from home plea is set to continue until late June.
Businesses have been told to let workers remain at home ‘wherever possible’ until at least 21 June, which is the date currently set for all restrictions to be irreversibly lifted.