Morgan Stanley sets 90-day limit on working from home

As it moves toward having its 16,000 financial advisers return to a more normal work schedule over the summer, Morgan Stanley is capping the number of days advisers can work from home at 90 a year, or 18 weeks, although it's allowing some exceptions.

After working from home for that period of time, advisers could apply to continue working from home. That approval would require management signing off and would take into account other factors.

The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in the disruption of work across industries, and many investment advice firms have required advisers and staff to work at home since March 2020, although that's beginning to change. Over the past two years, firms have made plans to return employees to offices, but have scuttled those due to flare ups of the pandemic.

Details of the Morgan Stanley work plan were published last week by AdvisorHub, an industry news site.

A spokesperson for Morgan Stanley said the wirehouse developed its approach to the thorny issue of getting advisers and staff back to the office in consultation with its advisers.

"We are offering different options to enable them to maintain flexibility that balances their needs as well as those of our clients and our business," the spokesperson wrote in an email. "Flexibility options will differ by employee based upon role and eligibility."