"Europe's Top Banks Plan to Lure Wall Street Talent with WFH Benefits"

This article was in Bloomberg today.

Every one of 12 top European banks surveyed by Bloomberg is continuing to allow employees to work remotely for part of the week. UBS Group AG even sees its embrace of hybrid working as a chance to hire talented staff from from US competitors, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The Swiss bank is committed to offering employees the option of hybrid working and about 75% of employees have roles that offer the necessary flexibility, a spokesman said. Similarly, France’s Societe Generale SA, Spain’s Banco Santander SA and ING Groep NV of the Netherlands cited workplace flexibility as helping them attract and retain the best talent.

Contrast those approaches with Goldman Sachs, which led Wall Street’s return to its Manhattan towers last year. The firm, and competitor Morgan Stanley, began removing some of their remaining Covid-19 mitigation efforts after this month’s US Labor Day holiday.

Earlier this year, Goldman executives emphasized their expectation that staff meeting Covid-protocol requirements will work from the office. The firm — and Chief Executive Officer David Solomon — has been out in front trying to corral its highly paid staff to resume full-time office work.

A Goldman Sachs spokesman declined to comment on the bank’s policy. Solomon said on an earnings call last year that achieving the goal of bringing staff back to the office “is not inconsistent with the desire to provide our people with the flexibility they need.”

 The level of flexibility in Europe varies depending on roles, with traders more bound to offices than IT staff. Yet Deutsche Bank AG’s policy appears to be the norm, with staff allowed to work remotely up to 40% of the time (rising to 60% in “exceptional circumstances.”) SocGen agreed a similar approach for its France-based staff in 2021.

I know in the past that European BBs haven't been considered as prestigious on this forum ("DB not a BB!") relative to the US BB's (GS, MS, JPM, BAML, Citi), and banks such as SocGen, and BNP are not discussed at all on these forums. 

Has the new push for hybrid/remote work changed anyone's opinion to shift to a bank with more flexibility, or do you all consider this a silly thing to focus on relative to prestige/brand name?