Goldman, JPMorgan grant work-from-home passes as World Cup crowds threaten Wall Street commutes

Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase are temporarily relaxing their return-to-office requirements during the FIFA World Cup, allowing staff to request permission to work remotely on match days as host cities brace for severe transport congestion.

The Wall Street giants notified employees they can seek approval to work from home on days when games are scheduled, citing potential commuting difficulties in affected cities including New York, according to people familiar with the matter, cited by the Financial Times.

The easing of rules comes as new research suggests the tournament could cost employers across the US alone more than $11 billion in lost productivity.

JPMorgan's temporary policy covers all employees across the US, Canada and Mexico, according to a leaked memo.

The move carries particular significance given both firms' well-documented hostility to flexible working arrangements. Goldman chief executive David Solomon previously described remote work as "an aberration," while JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon "slammed homeworking policies in an expletive-laden rant at an internal town hall meeting last year."

Citigroup, which has maintained a more flexible approach since the pandemic, has separately encouraged staff in hybrid roles based in World Cup host cities to work remotely during the tournament, people familiar with the situation said.

Goldman, JPMorgan and Citi declined to comment.

Widespread disruption

The scale of the workforce disruption due to the soccer contest is significant.

A survey of 8,000 employees across eight countries by workforce management firm UKG estimates the 39-day tournament could generate at least $17 billion in lost productivity globally, with the US accounting for $11.7 billion of that figure.

More than a quarter of employees surveyed said they are likely to miss work by arriving late, leaving early or not showing up at all, while 14% admitted they plan to secretly stream matches during working hours. One in five expect to clock in tired or exhausted, and 11% acknowledged they would show up hungover.

"When absenteeism and presenteeism hit at scale, the effect is immediate and expensive," said Suresh Vittal, chief product officer at UKG. "Productivity drops, customer experience suffers, and morale takes a hit as the rest of the team is left to cover the gaps."

The UKG data also flags a retention dimension that employers may not have anticipated. Nearly one in five workers surveyed said they would consider looking for a new job if their work schedule negatively affected their World Cup experience -- a finding that adds weight to the case for proactive flexibility planning rather than rigid enforcement.

Legal concerns

The decisions by Goldman and JPMorgan may also reflect more than operational convenience.

Legal analysts at Ogletree Deakins have noted that OSHA's General Duty Clause, which requires employers to maintain workplaces free from recognised hazards, does not pause for a sporting event.

Firms with offices near stadiums, fan zones or transit hubs face a heightened obligation to assess whether crowd conditions create risks for employees trying to enter or exit their buildings. Transit officials in New York and New Jersey have separately urged commuters to work from home on matchdays and limit ride-share use given the strain anticipated on regional networks.

The OSHA crowd management framework has its roots in a retail worker being trampled during a Black Friday sales event, but the underlying employer obligation to anticipate and mitigate hazards posed by surging crowds applies well beyond retail settings, according to the Ogletree Deakins analysis. For financial firms concentrated near affected transit corridors, the calculus around remote work approvals may therefore carry a compliance dimension alongside the logistical one.

The concessions serve as a broader reminder that remote working, whatever executives may say about it publicly, retains value as a practical contingency tool, even at firms that have pushed hardest for full office attendance. UKG's Vittal argued that employers do not need to choose between productivity and flexibility but do need the planning discipline to manage disruption as the tournament unfolds across an unpredictable bracket of matches.