Standard Chartered engineers are working 4 days from home. It's a blip

One of the best hybrid arrangements for bank employees is on offer at Standard Chartered. There, qualifying staff work either two or three days from home per week. Temporarily, however, some teams have an even more generous allowance.

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Standard Chartered is refurbishing its office in London's Basinghall Avenue. It started the refurbishment in 2023 and is set to finish by 2026. Multiple floors are being refitted, which means remaining office space is being shared. 

As a result, some of its employees in tech are now working just one day in the office per week. Employees speaking anonymously said they were told that the bank "checked the data and had enough space for everyone," but that this turned out to be wishful thinking. On Glassdoor, Standard Chartered employees have been complaining about "minimal office space" as far back as December.

It is understood that, once the refurbishments are complete, employees will return to pre-existing hybrid arrangements in which they worked in the office two or three days per week, depending on the role. In the meantime, however, those engineers will continue to be the subject of jealousy from JPMorgan engineers working five days per week in the office. 

There are complaints about space at JPMorgan too; it reportedly only has enough space for all its employees in three fifths of its offices. While its new Glasgow office is set to be one of the first to support the full RTO, London staff reportedly don't have to work in the office full-time until the bank prepares additional desk space.

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