Jefferies The Latest Firm To Tell Its Staff To Come Back To The Office

It’s official: the days of “working from home” for Wall Street look to have come to an end.

This morning, Jefferies became the latest firm to tell its staff that it wants them back in the office, hours after Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley set Labor Day deadlines for their staff to return to the office. 

Jefferies is asking its staff to “come back to the office on a more consistent basis”, a Bloomberg report Thursday morning said. The company has had it has “no issue” when employees need to work from home “from time to time”, but it says senior bankers are going to expected to “motivate” junior bankers to come into the office. 

And while the company says it won’t be checking ID badges of those coming back to the office, it appears to be an obvious step in the direction of returning to “normal”. 

Chief Executive Officer Rich Handler and President Brian Friedman said in a memo to employees: “We are not going to look at individual names on the turnstiles. As long as Covid continues to be manageable, we need everyone back in our offices on a consistent basis so we can truly maximize our fourth and final quarter and the future that is ahead.”

“We like all of our businesses and believe they are right-sized, diversified, well-managed and consistent with our goals of achieving a decent return on equity. We have more talent and capability in our house than ever before, and it will just require a little patience for the results to fully reflect everything we are capable of achieving,” the memo continued. 

Recall, just yesterday we wrote about Goldman and Morgan Stanley implementing similar protocols. 

Morgan Stanley has been leading the push this week, with Fox Business’ Charlie Gasparino reporting on Tuesday that the company is ending all Covid testing and other monitoring/mitigation requirements by September 5. 

A company-wide memo recommended that “all employees return to the office, barring certain individual health situations,” according to Fox News. It was also reported this week by the NY Post that Goldman Sachs was taking similar measures. 

Goldman Sachs “told workers it will no longer require vaccines, COVID testing or masks,” the Post wrote.

A bank memo to employees read: “There is significantly less risk of severe illness. In line with [the CDC’s] updated protocols, if you have not been coming in to the office, please speak with your manager to ensure that you understand and adhere to your division’s current return to office expectations.”

Wells Fargo bank analyst Mike Mayo told The Post: “This is another way of Goldman Sachs saying, ‘School’s in session and we want you in person’ after Labor Day. Goldman is the ultimate customer-facing firm and it’s tough to face customers remotely.”