(Bloomberg) — The initiative by banks and other employers in New York to bring back workers to the office is being undermined by an unexpected roadblock in a neighboring state.
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As the strike by New Jersey Transit locomotive engineers loomed over Monday’s commute, Garden State residents were eager for updates on negotiations as they mulled options for getting to work in Manhattan if trains remain shut down. NJ Transit officials and the union representing its rail engineers said that unscheduled talks Saturday in Newark went well. More talks were being held Sunday.
Financial firms including Deutsche Bank AG, Citigroup Inc., Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Credit Agricole SA and CastleOak Securities told many of their employees that they could work from home or local offices, according to people familiar with the situations, though traders and some other roles were often exceptions. The leeway offered a partial reprieve from return-to-office policies that were gaining momentum five years after the Covid-19 pandemic upended working patterns.
But traveling within the US’s most populous metro area promises to be chaotic as long as the walkout continues, and anyone with a pied-à-terre in Manhattan or generous friends or family with a couch to crash on were counting their lucky stars.
Shuttered NJ Transit train service has led to jammed buses, light-rail cars and PATH service, as well as surge pricing on Uber, as commuters sought alternatives. Service has also been suspended to MetLife Stadium, creating headaches and enormous ride-share bills for fans of the singer Shakira, who performed Thursday and Friday evenings.
“For some folks, not having a train option and having hundreds of thousands of people try to commute via bus or ferry or car will clog alternate routes,” CastleOak said in a memo to employees. “We are asking everyone to exercise their best judgment on commuting.”
JPMorgan Chase & Co., where Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon has been a fierce advocate of in-person work, advised employees to work with managers to figure out strike plans. Anyone who works remotely should log an “approved working from home – personal circumstance” code, according to a memo sent Friday.
One JPMorgan employee who lives in New Jersey, who asked not to be identified because he wasn’t authorized to comment publicly, was told by a manager that parking fees wouldn’t be covered for those who drove into the office, as he had planned to do. That meant he had to look at alternatives, such as Boxcar — a private bus service that has routes from the state to New York City — something he hadn’t considered before.
