BNY Mellon warns staff could face ‘corrective action’ if they don’t return to office
BNY Mellon has warned employees they may face “correction action” if they do not return to the office, a move that has been met with a mixed reception from the bank’s staff, according to the Sunday Times.
In a message entitled ‘Working Together’ sent to employees on 30 March, senior executive vice president Roman Regelman said “the number of days flex employees are expected to be in the office will change to a minimum of three days per week. Those who are not adhering to the three-day policy are subject to corrective action.”
The changes came into place on 10 April. While Regelman did not ask employees to come in on particular days, he said “managers may encourage teams to come together on certain days to optimise employee experience.”
In the UK, BNY Mellon has ten offices and 4,800 staff. Not all employees were impressed by Regelman’s missive.
According to the Sunday Times some members of staff have consulted conciliation service Acas over the change.
Some employees told the paper that working parents were struggling to make arrangements for extra time in the office while others said there are not enough desks to enable all workers to return to the office.
BNY Mellon’s attempts to lure workers back to the office comes shortly after JP Morgan asked its senior bankers around the world to work from the office five days a week, telling them they need to “lead by example”.
Fellow investment bank Goldman Sachs led the way back in March last year when it demanded employees work in the office every day of the week.
In the City, Lloyd’s of London boss John Neal said workers needed to move away from working only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
In a statement, BNY Mellon said “in-person collaboration with clients and colleagues is essential to driving execution and commercial impact. Our office space and seating is designed to accommodate our current flexible ‘Working Together’ model.”
“We have industry-leading health and wellbeing programmes to support our colleagues, including providing generous leave and time-off benefits.”