Workers at Japanese banks aren’t having to rush back to the office, unlike their counterparts on Wall Street, even as the country gradually returns to normal life under the pandemic.
The nation’s three largest lenders — Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group — said they are allowing more flexibility, eschewing a minimum number of office days per week, as experienced elsewhere.
That marks a contrast with places like New York, where bosses are increasingly expecting workers to show up in Manhattan offices as banks including Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley have removed the final hurdles for full-time, in-person work. Still, there’s also been an acknowledgment in some quarters that more flexibility is needed in the post-COVID age.