UBS removes Fridays WFH work from home flexibility
Effective immediately, UBS global banking americas employees to return to working 5 days a week in the office… removing the current flexibility for working from home on Fridays
Reasoning is that 2026 goals are ambitious and with street fees coming up in M&A, ECM, DCM we all need to go back to 5 days a week in the office.
Not sure how adding logos on pages to the 100th pitchbook in the office instead of my home will make MDs start to bring in more deals but that’s the reasoning they provided in their note.
How is everyone reacting? Personally very annoyed by this. This was the one thing that made this place more bearable and now it’s removed for a seemingly nonsensical reason. Juniors getting punished for things outside of their control, make it make sense.
You should focus on finding a new job, whether that be in banking or not as it is clear you hate your job. It's never worth it to do a job you despise and cannot find any positives in, just going to make you miserable.
Put another way: life’s too short to work at UBS
Welp time to unionize amirite
Writing was on the wall for months at this point.
UBS is trying to squeeze costs (comp and bonuses, headcount) and increase efficiency per head. But you can’t nickel and dime your way out on expenses when your topline revenue is fucked.
What they need to do is increase revenue per MD head - this is the crux of the issue. Instead, UBS prefers to pay guaranteed bonuses to cornball MDs who can’t originate and loser MDs who are coasting for a few years before retiring and ex Barclays MDs who don’t do shit.
UBS is in a negative flywheel where competent seniors and juniors get screwed on comp and bonuses, leave for other banks, leaving only duds behind.
If you’re an analyst or associate, you can make more money in places with better culture and working conditions than UBS. Everything has gotten worse every single year post-CS and this is by far the worst BB bank to work at.
Thank you for providing this critical market intelligence. My company is looking to make a strategic acquisition of an investment banking platform promptly, and # of Days in Office is a key metric in our market landscape and comparables analysis.
I’ll have my incoming summer analyst update the comps now. He has time given spring break. This is the type of “Cultural Synergy” that makes UBS IB Americas an increasingly attractive acquisition target! See you on a Friday soon!
Let’s say you have an uncle named Bob.
Bob asks you to lend him a fork. Twenty minutes later, Bob creeps up behind you and uses the fork to stab you in the butt.
Then Bob asks to borrow your car. You decide to let him use it. Bob drinks three 40-ounce bottles of malt liquor and crashes the car into your garage.
Then Bob asks to borrow $100,000. You hesitate, but end up loaning him the money. Thirty minutes later, Bob has wired all the money to OF girls in Estonia.
The lesson isn’t that Bob keeps making mistakes; it’s that he knows exactly what he can get away with. After a certain point, the focus should be on getting away from Bob, not posting on WSO every day about what he did this time.
Bob sucks. UBS sucks. Bob was just hired to work at UBS.
The "Uncle Bob" analogy is spot on. It’s wild how people will stay in toxic situations, whether it’s a job or a relationship, and just keep posting the play-by-play updates on here instead of walking away.
At some point, the person venting becomes part of the problem if they keep handing over the "keys" to the car.
Reasons people stay at UBS:
It’s wild how people will stay for a paycheck they need to survive in a socialist HCOL city
Sounds easy on paper but exits are looking more and more scarce in the current climate. + other factors such as family (are you the breadwinner, if so, can't quit on a whim), debt, visa, etc
Bob is an MD at UBS with a guaranteed bonus.
Can someone internally confirm any of these threads
Not sure I agree with this, pretty sure we will be WFH 5x per week when we sell our offices for liquidity.
At least there’s a free gym at 11 Madison right?
You have to pay now
UBS could work 7 days in office and would still be way outside the top 20
Might as well make it 8 days at that point
Many of the departures using Friday as a day to schedule interviews with other firms.
They are trying to keep you at UBS by limiting your free time to interview
Bingo
Just take interviews in the office. It's definitely not ideal but can use a huddle room or something for 30 minutes and dip out.
rooms in basement in 2B are clutch for interviewing too. You can be logged in on a UBS desktop and keep your teams green, plus the risk of people from your group walking by is low. The Fridays in office definitely sucks, I did 3 in person superdays on Friday before I got out.
Moving to 100% WFH is to drive attrition more than keeping talent. If you're good enough, you can have a few asks, one of them being WFH (doesn't cost the company anything either).
Another twist in the UBS tale. The movie is about to be insane 🤩
Honestly, the logic that "more pitchbooks = more deals" only works if the MDs are out there selling, not just watching juniors align logos in a cubicle.
Being in the office on a Friday doesn't magically create market liquidity. It’s just theater at this point.
They have been wrong on so many levels and yet think every decision internally has been fantastic.
Can always claim it’d be 50% worse without the current leadership regardless of truth or whether that assertion is grounded in fasts.
I suspect they’ll maintain revenue due mostly to inflation, cut MD count by 20%, then claim revue per MD is up 25%
Congrats on UBS!
Guys, it’s not enough to spend 70 hours a week in the office. You need to spend 90 hours a week in the office! You are a slave and the bank owns your ass.
Adding insult to injury.
You're saying there's no need to be in the office at all ("not sure how adding logos in the office instead of my home will make MDs bring in more deals").
So the entire job should be WFH then? Unless you're going all the way and saying the whole job should be WFH, 7 days a week, you're not being any more logical than management is.
Looks like you disregarded part of my point about the “100th” pitchbook. The point is the marginal gain in UBS generating more fees is 0 with this additional day in office. That’s the part that doesn’t make sense, not the fact there is any amount of work in office. I agree that in office work is necessary for culture, but in this day and age, having 1-2 days remote is market.
The tradeoff in junior quality of life vs additional fees generated (0) is just an L overall. Especially considering there are firms with 2 days WFH that completely outclass UBS in market share. When you add below street comp (as shown by other threads) to below street benefits, that’s information people should be aware of before considering an offer.
I’m on my way out of here, but I wanted to shed light since this is a factor that actually matters for juniors unlike some of the things being said on here about UBS that are either untrue, exaggerated or biased.
If 4 days in-office is in fact market, and UBS is by its own admission pushing above market because they think that will be a key factor in helping MD's win more deals, then yes I agree that's pretty ridiculous.
I think the truth is fuzzier than that. Not sure 4 days is really market, especially adjusted for where things are headed . . didn't Jamie Dimon say JPM is going to 5 days? Also not sure sure UBS is doing this for the reason stated, but I don't have access to their note.
I think WFH has been mostly a failure. We can certainly quibble on the margins about 4 vs 5 days, but any place that was 5 days pre-Covid and isn't 5 days today, is to me just clinging to an old & temporary policy.
Legitimately tired of these threads, get a life guys
Legitimately go fuck yourself
Congrats on audit, maybe try again for FT!
Congrats on UBS!
Q1 2026 UBS Banking Americas Highlights:
-Made juniors pay for gym assess
-Make juniors come in 5 days as punishment for low revenue per MD
-Lost several productive MDs post bonus, reducing productivity further
-Questionable promotion decisions
-Layoffs coming very soon
JEC should resign from their position as all they have done is enable management to make things worse. Down with Marco, bring back Ros it cant be worse
I left UBS because they started charging for the gym - not even kidding, that was what drove me over the edge
lol JEC doesn’t do anything or have power do anything
Millions of people died during COVID and this is what we get? A disgrace
Wtf? Thank god UBS employees will at least get to enjoy expensing dinner on the company card during Friday evenings in office
Until that gets taken away
It isn't a big deal. I heard Marco say within half an year they are implementing this new policy where juniors can WFH full time pro Bono. What's even better is that they get to choose their own work and their own hours and don't have to report to anyone
Is this not a stealth layoff - aka UBS trying to get people to quit for free?
For sure. A certain percent of people work at UBS because its a lifestyle bank historically. They are trying to get these people out without severance payments.
Next thing they will do is start making people come to the office on Sundays like the pre COVID days.
Be thankful it’s not 6 days in the office!
Their entire MO has been do everything like JPM and GS and we will become them.
That uhh hasnt happened
O ye of little faith - STFU and trust the plan. MV is a competent leader who will get us to #6 in the Americas. If anything, JPM and GS should be copying us.
mike drop
You sound like some of the MDs sons who go to regional colleges that they are hiring for internships
Don’t worry guys - 3,000 UBS employees being onboarded in Hyderabad as we speak. With their high-quality work product and sheer intellectual dominance, we’re finally about to witness the total replacement of those overpaid, entitled American analysts.
Let’s lay off remaining American juniors!
Future is H-Y-D-E-R-A-B-A-D! 🇮🇳 > 🇺🇸 🚀
I’ll get monkey shits but can confirm this is fake. Y’all students need to get a life, no one working in IB has the hours to constantly be shit posting in WSO like you guys
Thanks for the pre fired congrats on UBS 🤣
I work at the firm. There was a note sent to Americas staff and it was mentioned in the EMA monday morning meeting. It is real, not sure what makes you say this is fake.
Right and the no more meal stipend is correct too right?
Do you know if it is same for global market?
Just quit while you can
Qui officia alias aut. Dolores nulla earum dolorum laudantium. Placeat hic eius exercitationem quae harum.
Repudiandae voluptatum sapiente et optio recusandae ut. Officiis itaque officiis facilis sunt et eos aut. Et possimus eligendi ut modi voluptatem.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Et iure suscipit ut et. In repellendus vel natus quis. Explicabo et iure sed unde.
Fugiat delectus esse aut veniam. Non assumenda ex distinctio assumenda non ut. Eius et placeat porro dolore ut ut veritatis. Fuga tenetur qui non officia eius. Eum dolorum voluptatem quas eligendi et. Nemo commodi porro et vel aut. Ut aut dicta et ut maxime.
Tenetur labore temporibus consequuntur ut vero omnis. Commodi quibusdam earum et tempore doloremque nobis omnis omnis.
Nobis vero recusandae consequuntur non ipsa repudiandae officiis nihil. Dicta et dicta iste corrupti enim ab. Provident ut nulla magni enim et. Est ut dolores quas. Veritatis rerum et sit nulla voluptatem corporis. Laborum aliquid aut nemo et aut corporis necessitatibus.
Pariatur minus numquam libero et voluptas vitae. Quas provident cupiditate sunt. Ut consequatur ab blanditiis velit distinctio ex et accusantium. Dicta porro saepe esse at rerum ducimus aut.
Aspernatur dolores porro qui recusandae eligendi ipsa quas. Provident explicabo dolorem debitis sit a aut id. Itaque animi saepe eveniet.
Fuga totam ea aut quos quod consequatur. Magni dignissimos dolor a quae ut placeat.
Quasi dicta ipsa voluptatem vel eveniet voluptatum necessitatibus libero. At occaecati qui dolores magnam et quod. Debitis velit ad eaque corrupti qui. Aspernatur excepturi minus molestiae neque. Optio sint et est natus harum et possimus nobis.