More of JPMorgan’s Office Workers to Start Returning July 13 (1)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is planning for some workers to return to its buildings in Columbus, Ohio, next month as the biggest U.S. bank begins formally reopening offices shut by the pandemic.

Workers will gradually come back starting July 13, then ramping up to as much as 50% of staff by Sept. 7, according to a memo to employees. The bank’s tower at 1111 Polaris Parkway, one of JPMorgan’s largest facilities in the U.S., will be one of the first to reopen in the area.

Columbus would be the second U.S. market, after Manhattan, in which staff are returning to offices after more than 180,000 employees, or roughly 70% of the bank’s global staff, started working from home in March to help stem the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

More of JPMorgan’s corporate workers in the New York metro area also will be going back to offices next month, with no more than 20% returning before the second week of September, the bank said in a memo earlier this week.

“We are starting this journey because we believe that working together in person benefits our culture and work over the long term,” the bank wrote in a memo from the Columbus return-to-the-office planning committee. “By starting slowly this summer, we can listen and learn and plan for a larger, safer and more efficient return in the fall.” A bank spokeswoman declined to comment.

Health Questionnaire

The plans apply to office staff across all of the company’s major lines of business in those two markets. JPMorgan has previously said that the process and pace of reopenings will vary depending on location.

JPMorgan employs roughly 19,000 people in Columbus, making it one of the New York-based firm’s largest outposts.

Employees will be required to complete daily health questionnaires to ensure they aren’t exhibiting Covid-19 symptoms, according to the memo. They’ll also be required to wear masks in common areas. Desks will be marked with red or green stickers to signal where workers can sit, the same strategy being used on the bank’s trading floors.

Read more about JPMorgan’s plans to bring more traders back

(Updates with context on broader U.S. reopening plans starting in third paragraph, health checks in penultimate paragraph.)

To contact the reporter on this story:
Michelle F. Davis in New York at mdavis194@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net

Dan Reichl, Steve Dickson

© 2020 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Used with permission.