David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs, speaks during the Milken Institute global conference in Beverly Hills on April 29, 2019.
Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said working from home “was not a new normal” for the investment banking giant, calling it an “aberration”.
Speaking at Credit Suisse’s annual virtual financial services forum, Solomon said the coronavirus pandemic had seen a “significant portion” of Goldman Sachs employees move to work remotely.
However, he said the company had still managed to get an average of less than 10% of its staff to work in its offices around the world.
In New York, Solomon said Goldman had up to a quarter of its employees working on-site and had managed to return the same number to its London offices last summer and fall, when the UK’s public health restrictions United had been reduced briefly.
Goldman had again brought more than half of its staff to its offices in Asia, Solomon said, but added that it fell again during the fall and winter months with a resurgence of coronavirus cases.
“I think for a business like ours that is an innovative and collaborative learning culture, this is not ideal for us and is not a new normal,” Solomon said.
“It is an aberration that we will correct as soon as possible,” he added.
Solomon said he was especially focused on ensuring that the next cohort of young workers joining Goldman Sachs this summer would not start working at the firm remotely, as he believed they could lose “direct contact” and “direct tutoring”.
He said he was a “great believer in personal connectivity” and therefore did not think for a business like Goldman that his operating style would be very different from the post-pandemic.
Salomon’s comments contrast with those of many big names in the technology space who have made the move to remote work a more permanent part of their operations. The latest example is the Spotify music streaming service, which announced earlier this month that it would allow employees to work from anywhere after the pandemic.
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