Barclays latest firm to tighten office attendance rules with three-day minimum

Barclays has become the latest major company to tighten its office attendance policy, requiring staff to be in the office at least three days a week.

The British-based bank revealed a stricter approach to hybrid working in a memo to staff earlier this week, reducing the minimum number of days staff can work from home from three to two, as reported by City AM.

Many Barclays employees, including those in client-facing and investment banking roles, already spend four or five days a week in the office, but the official company-wide policy had only required two days.

The decision to increase this to three, first reported by the Financial Times, comes as many major UK firms grapple with their approach to hybrid working as the pandemic's impact recedes.

Earlier this month, City AM reported that WPP boss Mark Read had informed his 100,000-strong workforce that they would need to work from the office at least four days a week from April.

This announcement, made via a company-wide memo, sparked a strong backlash from Read’s staff, resulting in a public petition that garnered nearly 20,000 signatures.

Shortly after WPP announced its new policy, Barclays' competitor Lloyds stated that senior staff could have their bonuses reduced or withdrawn if they do not work from the office at least twice a week.

The UK’s largest mortgage lender told managers it expected them to set an example for younger staff.

Within the finance sector, investment banks such as JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs led the charge back to a five-day in-office workweek, signifying a split from their retail banking counterparts.

Goldman Sachs' leader David Solomon referred to remote working as an "aberration" as early as 2021, at a time when other firms in similar industries lacked definitive hybrid work strategies.

Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan has been vocal about his doubts regarding home-based work and recently supported Donald Trump and Elon Musk in urging all federal workers to return to full-time office work.