Andrew Burton/Getty Images; Samantha Lee/Insider
Morgan Stanley's chief executive just made it clear that a return to the office is imminent for the bank's US employees.
Speaking on the same day Goldman Sachs' New York employees returned to work en masse in-person, Morgan Stanley chief exec James Gorman doubled down on a view shared by a number of his contemporaries in finance: The value of the office hasn't been eroded in spite of more than a year of remote work.
"Make no mistake about it. We do our work inside Morgan Stanley offices, and that's where we teach, that's where our interns learn, that's how we develop people," Gorman told Morgan Stanley analyst Betsy Graseck on Monday, speaking at the firm's US Financials, Payments & CRE Conference.
"I'll be very disappointed if people haven't found their way into the office" by the Labor Day holiday, which this year falls on September 6, Gorman added. "Then, we'll have a different kind of conversation."
A spokesperson for Morgan Stanley declined to comment beyond Gorman's remarks.
Gorman, personally, has been building toward a full-time return to office since last summer.
The executive said he started a one-day-per-week rotation from July through Labor Day 2020, stepping it up to two days through the end of the year, and then three days per week from the start of 2021 through March. He's currently on a four-day-per-week cycle, but is now eyeing a full-time return to work.
Gorman also dashed the hopes of employees hoping to live their lives as normal, minus going into the office in-person.
"If you can go into a restaurant in New York City, you can come into the office," he said. "We want you in the office."
'If you want to get paid New York rates, you work in New York.'Gorman also said that his firm is encouraging employees to obtain the COVID-19 vaccination before heading into work.
"Our position here is that we want people to be vaccinated," he said. "Well over 90% of our employees who are in the offices are now vaccinated."
He added that he anticipated the number of vaccinated employees to reach as high as 98% to 99%, but knows that some employees may decline to be vaccinated for personal reasons.
"We'll deal with those who either, for health or religious issues, whatever, maybe they can't or they won't — we'll deal with that when we get there," he said.
In recent days, other Wall Street firms including Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America have conducted surveys or inquired as to their employees' vaccination status.
While none of those firms has, at this point, required employees to receive the COVID-19 jab, knowing how many employees have been vaccinated will be baked into their return-to-work strategies.
Meanwhile, Gorman did say Morgan Stanley's return-to-work plans would be highly reliant on local conditions where the firm has presences.
In India, where the bank has a 10,000-strong workforce, Gorman said that employees won't return to their workplaces this year, as that country continues to battle a critical public health situation.
Something similar could be said for the United Kingdom, he added. While that UK has had more success distributing coronavirus vaccines, it recently extended its restrictive measures as a result of a surge in cases attributed to the so-called "Delta variant."
Over the past year, some of Gorman's contemporaries, like Goldman Sachs' David Solomon and JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon, have outlined their views on protracted WFH over the past year.
Both leaders have criticized remote work for what they see as stunting the growth and development of young professionals.
Going forward, Gorman did concede that the firm will offer "more flexibility," but suggested that employees shouldn't start packing their bags in the hopes of working from underneath the shade of a palm tree anytime soon.
"That doesn't mean, 'Hey, it's Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and, you know, I'm in Florida,'" Gorman said, grinning.
He even tied long-term remote work to diminished salary prospects.
"If you want to get paid New York rates, you work in New York," he added.
"None of this, 'I'm in Colorado and work in New York and am getting paid like I'm sitting in New York City.' Sorry, that doesn't work."
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