Are return to office mandates really necessary?

Is Jamie Dimon right about remote and hybrid working?

The JPMorgan Chase CEO has been a vocal proponent of a full-time office return, arguing in-office work fosters mentoring for junior staff, career progression, collaboration, idea generation, culture and more effective management.

But a year on from its decision to call all staff into the office five days a week, the bank is running up against internal pushback.

Employees have complained of the financial strain, particularly around childcare and commuting costs, and the impact on their work-life balance. An internal survey in June found the return to office order resulted in a drop in employee satisfaction related to health and well-being. And an employee petition sent to Dimon in October claimed the mandate “is a great leap backward: It hurts employees, customers, shareholders, and the firm’s reputation.”

Hybrid working remains popular

They are not alone.

JLL’s 2025 Workforce Preference Barometer found work-life balance has overtaken pay as the leading priority for employees – cited by 65% of office workers globally (up from 48% in 2021), compared to 56% who list salary. A good work-life balance is adjudged to enhance employee engagement and productivity while reducing absenteeism and presenteeism.

According to professional recruiting firm Robert Half’s latest benefits and perks survey of HR managers in the United States, half of jobseekers prefer hybrid work, with a quarter opting for fully remote. Just 19% said their top choice is a fully in-office role.

“The benefits of hiring remote and hybrid workers are clear for employers,” observed the recruiter. “In addition to accessing a wider talent pool and potentially attracting more skilled applicants for jobs, offering flexible work can help improve retention.”

The shift to hybrid and remote working has also allowed many organisations to rationalise their office space and facilities, saving money and/or allowing them to move to higher grade buildings that are more appealing to staff.

So while there may be a move back towards full-time (or near full-time) in-office policies, demand for hybrid and remote working mean such arrangements appear here to stay long term. This is especially true for operational roles, where progressive digitisation is reducing the imperative for an in-person presence.

Maintaining work quality

The big challenge from a company perspective is to ensure employees working from home maintain their productivity and output quality.

Are staff following the correct processes at all times? Are they inputting the right data in the right places? Are the outputs accurate and complete? Wealth management firms’ ability to monitor and manage portfolios, run analytics, and generate client, regulatory and management reports depend on data quality, and risk becoming severely compromised should deficiencies creep in.

Problem is, how do you know things are working as they should?

Automating data checks

Rules-based automation offers the only realistic solution, especially when staff are working remotely without direct supervision.

Automated data quality tools combat manual expense, delay and risk of error. They create a proactive quality control environment that removes the threat of human variability, ensuring checks are accurate and consistent.

Problems are identified much quicker, enabling faster resolution of critical data before it has a material impact. Workflow reports can detail what issues are being investigated, where they stand, what has been resolved and when, and what hasn’t. It provides management with improved transparency into their data quality, and creates an audit trail that firms can give to their regulator and auditors to evidence what actions have been taken.

Users can also see where and why an issue emerged and how to fix it. This can inform staff knowledge and training so the same mistakes aren’t repeated. These incremental improvements become embedded in the process, compounding over time to deliver much greater accuracy and efficiency.

Wealth managers will then be able to act on their data with confidence. They can run reports knowing the information is accurate and complete. Clients are happier. Compliance becomes easier. Reputational risk diminishes. Operational gearing and profitability improve. And staff can still enjoy the benefits of a flexible work schedule.

No going back

What won’t work is the old ways of operating. For years, wealth managers have typically relied on manual checks to look for errors and discrepancies, and manual fixes to resolve them. But that:

Many firms don’t have a robust, standardised procedure for staff to follow when making amendments, nor a recheck process to confirm mistakes have been properly rectified. Outstanding errors may only show up at a much later stage, and after considerable digging, embedding risk and cost in the meantime. In a remote working environment, the danger is these problems become even more engrained.

The onus instead must be on ensuring that data accuracy and integrity are maintained from the outset. Done right, remote working needn’t be a liability. You just need the proper data safeguards.