JP Morgan has warned its investment bankers that they will be punished for failing to work in the office as it ordered its senior staff back to their desks five days a week.
The Wall Street institution said some employees were still refusing to return to the workplace and failing to hit the bank's minimum office attendance target of three days a week.
In a memo to staff seen by the Telegraph, chief executive Jamie Dimon said: "There are a number of employees who aren't meeting their in-office attendance expectations, and that must change.
"You're responsible for meeting your hybrid model requirements. Your manager is responsible for ensuring that attendance requirements are being met and, in cases where they aren't, taking the appropriate performance management steps - which could include corrective action."
It came as Mr Dimon told JP Morgan's managing directors that they should no longer be working from home, adding that all staff should be able to work five days a week in the office if required.
He said: "As we've returned to more-normal patterns in our lives and work, we can all appreciate the many benefits of in-person engagement.
Importance
"We believe this is especially true when it comes to the importance of being in the office - being together improves the speed of decision making, while also providing valuable opportunities for spontaneous learning and creativity, as well as allowing our professionals to learn through our apprenticeship model.
"Our leaders play a critical role in reinforcing our culture and running our businesses. They have to be visible on the floor, they must meet with clients, they need to teach and advise, and they should always be accessible for immediate feedback and impromptu meetings.
"We need them to lead by example, which is why we're asking all managing directors to be in the office five days a week."
Wall Street firms, like many throughout the US, are rethinking their work-from-home rules as Covid-19 recedes.
JP Morgan's push to get staff back to the workplace comes after it started encouraging employees back into offices on a regular basis in July 2021 as the impact of the pandemic diminished.
One possible motivation for bringing workers back to the office could be the new headquarters JPMorgan is building on Park Avenue in midtown Manhattan.
The 60-storey skyscraper, which will house as many as 14,000 employees, will have yoga and cycling rooms, meditation spaces, an abundance of outdoor areas and a state-of-the-art food hall.
- More than a third of UK workers have said they would quit their job if their employer demanded they return to the office full-time.
This emerged in new research showing how much the world of work has changed since the first Covid lockdown.
Six in 10 employees are considering changing their job this year, according to data gathered by LinkedIn - although one in five of that group said they would remain in their current role if they continued to be able to work remotely or more flexibly.
Women are particularly keen on more workplace flexibility, and more than half reported they had left or were considering leaving their job because of a lack of flexibility.