Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon: 65% of workforce back in office 5 days a week

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said the bank’s return-to-office policy has brought 65% of employees back to their desks five days a week — but noted that’s still short of the face time they were putting in before the pandemic.

“Before the pandemic, about 75% of our people were in the office on any given day of the week,” Solomon said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “Today it’s 65%.”

Solomon — who famously derided working from home as an “aberration” and “not a new normal during the depths of COVID-19 — said Tuesday he wants to see the current percentages inch higher.

“I’d like to get back to the culture we had before — people come to work, do their work, live their lives, and have the flexibility to manage,” Solomon added.

“I don’t want rules. I want a culture where we show up, we serve our clients, we work hard, we mentor our people, we teach our people, we strive for excellence. That’s what Goldman Sachs is all about.”

Solomon emphasized how important it is for young workers who are still learning the business to be in-person at the office. And given that roughly half of Goldman’s workforce are people in their 20s, Solomon said it’s mission-critical for those employees to be in-person.

Goldman insiders say employees are aligned with that vision. According to a Goldman Sachs 2022 global intern survey, 99% of interns said relationships are “best formed in person,” with 75% of interns saying remote work “negatively impacted” their ability to form relationships.

Compared to other Manhattan-based companies, Goldman is far ahead when it comes to bringing employees back. According to a Partnership for New York survey, just 9% of employees at Manhattan-based companies are in the office five days a week.

Before Labor Day, the bank lifted all COVID protocols as it pushed all employees to return to the office five days a week. Goldman Sachs told workers it will no longer require vaccines, COVID testing or masks — a signal it won’t accept excuses from employees who claimed COVID as a reason for working from home.