Work from home? For World Cup, even JPMorgan says yes

Cities including New York, Seattle, Los Angeles, Toronto and Mexico City have warned of severe gridlock as tens of thousands of fans crowd roadways and public transportation to attend matches.

The World Cup is giving some office workers an unexpected perk: permission to stay home.

Employers in host cities are encouraging staff to work remotely on match days to avoid expected traffic headaches and delays, pausing corporate America’s years-long push to get people back into the office.

Wall Street bankers, publicists, government workers and school teachers are among the employees logging in from home across the continent. Even Jamie Dimon, one of the harshest and most vocal remote work critics, is giving JPMorgan Chase employees some flexibility on game days, the Financial Times reported. Federal agencies are offering leniency, too.

Cities including New York, Seattle, Los Angeles, Toronto and Mexico City have warned of severe gridlock as tens of thousands of fans crowd roadways and public transportation to attend matches.

No matter how much certain chief executives want remote work to die, it just will not. US workers are spending more than a quarter of paid workdays at home, according to a monthly survey by economists at ITAM Business School and Stanford University. The pandemic may not have ushered in a work from home revolution, but it set up workers and workplaces to better allow for it, as needed.

“Avoiding Word Cup traffic is a perfect use case of remote work,” said Emma Harrington, an economist at the University of Virginia who studies remote work. “Sitting in gridlock isn’t a good use of anyone’s time.”

S&P Global told employees at its New York headquarters to plan to work from home on the five business days when matches are scheduled at the nearby NYNJ Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, according to a memo viewed by Bloomberg. The company is waiving its requirement for two in-office days per week “to help you avoid a difficult commute,” it said in an e-mail to staff.

Wall Street firms including Goldman Sachs are also temporarily easing attendance policies, the FT reported. S&P Global declined to comment; Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan did not respond to e-mails seeking comment.

The NYC Department of Transportation said it expects “severe traffic congestion” on match days. The city is closing several roads in Midtown Manhattan’s central business district to create dedicated corridors for shuttle buses to the stadium.

Not all employers told workers to stay home. Amazon.com sent e-mails to employees advising them to leave home early enough on match days to arrive at the office on time, and highlighted transit options to avoid traffic congestion.

Sports mega-events are well known for snarling commutes and disrupting workplaces. London implemented three weeks of remote work when it hosted the Olympics in 2012. But the World Cup’s impact is likely to be more limited because matches are spread across 16 cities, including Boston, Dallas, Houston, Miami and Vancouver, said Nicholas Bloom, an economist at Stanford who studies remote work and commutes. Plus, no city is hosting more than nine games.