RBC to require employees to work in the office four days a week

Royal Bank of Canada RY-T is telling its employees to return to their offices four days a week as major employers across the country grapple with enticing workers back in person.

As Canada’s biggest bank and one of its largest employers, RBC’s move − the first among the country’s big banks – is a milestone for companies looking to bring staff back to the office on a closer to full-time basis.

RBC employees will maintain the three-day requirement for the summer before the four-day minimum takes effect in the fall, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The Globe and Mail is not naming the sources because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

“RBC is a relationship-driven bank and in person, human connection is core to our winning culture,” RBC spokesperson Gillian McArdle said in an e-mail statement. “We set the expectation in 2023 that we’d come together in the office for the majority of the time, with the flexibility to work remotely one to two days a week.”

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While traffic in Toronto’s financial district has picked up from pandemic lows, office occupancy has yet to rebound.

In March, Canada’s downtown office-vacancy rate notched its first improvement since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data from CBRE Group Inc. The national vacancy rate for downtown offices decreased slightly to 19.9 per cent in the first quarter after reaching a record high of 20 per cent in the previous quarter.

U.S. banks have been more aggressive in calling employees back to the office. This year, JPMorgan Chase – the country’s largest lender – started bringing staff into the office for a full five days a week.

RBC first started ramping up mandatory days in the office in the spring of 2023, when the lender told employees to return at least three days a week. At the time, an internal memo said that the bank’s long-term competitiveness was at risk without frequent in-person engagement.

A few weeks prior, RBC chief executive officer Dave McKay said on an earnings call that productivity and innovation have decreased as employees continued to work from home for most of the week.

Over the past year, RBC has been integrating its purchase of HSBC Bank Canada. In March, RBC shed some employees as it prepared to launch its updated strategic plan at its investor day later that month.