The world’s largest asset manager is ordering workers back to the office.
In an internal memo acquired by Reuters, BlackRock Inc. said employees will be required to be in the office four days a week. The company joins a string of other financial firms, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley, that enacted similar policies.
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The announcements juxtapose new Placer.ai data that shows a full-blown return to the office appears unlikely. Office visits in 11 cities have plateaued at around 60% over the past six months, signaling a widespread acceptance of hybrid work despite pushback from top executives.
BlackRock’s policy is especially surprising given the upper hand workers have maintained amid a competitive job market. The nation’s unemployment rate has remained low, hovering around 3.5% over the past several months.
“Employees are saying we are going to push really, really hard against being required to be in the office five days a week,” Scoop Technologies CEO Robert Sadow told The Wall Street Journal. “Most companies in the current labor market have been reluctant to push [back] that hard.”
That could change if the nation hurtles toward a recession, and BlackRock’s move might be a harbinger of more employee mandates coming down the pike. But in general, executives tend to agree hybrid is the future — even during an economic downturn.
“Hybrid is becoming a bit of a truce,” Sadow told the WSJ. “It will continue to be more of the norm.”
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