Morgan Stanley plans “full return” to office

A flood of companies have announced remote-work plans for beyond the pandemic.

Morgan Stanley, however, is eying a more traditional model.

“We plan a full return to the Midtown office when it is safe to do so, but we expect some flexibility for employees to work from home during some of the week,” a Morgan Stanley spokesperson told Commercial Observer. “Those arrangements will vary widely based on the employee and job.”

The investment bank certainly has space for its people. It owns the 1.33 million-square-foot 1585 Broadway and takes up 78,000 square feet at the building, where it has been located since 1995.

The bank also rents approximately 565,000 square feet at 522 Fifth Avenue.

Also on Monday, Microsoft said after the pandemic it will view working from home less than half of the time as “standard for most roles,” the New York Times reported.

Some of Morgan Stanley’s rivals have taken an alternative route. JPMorgan Chase is looking to sublet about 700,000 square feet at 4 New York Plaza in the Financial District and more than 100,000 square feet at 5 Manhattan West in the Hudson Yards area. HSBC is similarly shifting to a hybrid remote-work model.

However, things could still change. Morgan Stanley CEO and Chairman James Gorman told Bloomberg Television last April that he could see the company needing less office space given the switch to work-from-home.

“Clearly, we’ve figured out how to operate with much less real estate,” Gorman said at the time. “Can I see a future where part of every week, certainly part of every month, a lot of our employees will be at home? Absolutely.”

[CO] — Sasha Jones