When you order a drink with your Subway sandwich, soon it’ll be a Pepsi

FUTURE OF WORK

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have been leading the charge to get employees into the office more often, but it’s their smaller industry peers who are more likely to demand full-time on-site work. While just 4 percent of banks with 5,000 or more employees require full-time office attendance, nearly a third of the smallest banks in the cohort demand it, according to a survey of 137 US banks employing 4.4 million people from Scoop Technologies Inc., which advises firms on flex-work policy. The policy differences could be influencing where bankers want to work: The share of larger banks’ new employees that are coming from smaller banks has increased to 26.8 percent this year, up from 22.6 percent in 2021, according to job-market data tracker Revelio Labs. Banks with fewer employees are also more likely to let employees choose if they come into an office at all, while the vast majority of bigger banks use some type of hybrid arrangement, where workers are on-site a few days a week. Of the 66 banks that were added to Scoop’s index over the past year, none of them said they required full-time office attendance. The data contrasts with the much-publicized comments from the leaders of big banks like Jamie Dimon, who has said remote work “doesn’t work.” The smaller banks that demand full-time office work might do so as they face less competition for talent, according to Scoop cofounder and chief executive Rob Sadow. They might also adhere to more traditional workplace norms, he said. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

TECHNOLOGY

Michael Dell is unloading shares in his namesake computer company for the first time in almost three years as Dell Technologies Inc.’s stock soars on artificial-intelligence optimism. Dell’s chief executive has been selling on a near daily basis since March 6 and has now disposed of more than 4 million shares worth about $465 million, according to Bloomberg calculations. He still owns half of the Texas-based company, the largest asset behind his $94.2 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. A spokesperson for Dell’s family office DFO Management declined to comment. Dell’s shares jumped 32 percent on March 1 to a record high after the company reported sales and profit that beat analyst’s estimates, fueled by demand for technology that can support AI applications. The stock gained 40 percent this year through Monday’s close. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

FINANCIAL

The average Wall Street bonus dropped slightly last year as banks kept compensation reined in amid an ongoing deal slump and the number of employees working in the securities industry ticked up. The average annual cash bonus fell 2 percent to $176,500 in 2023, the lowest since 2019, according to an analysis by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. The drop was far less dramatic than it was in 2022, when the average bonus slumped 25 percent. Industrywide, the bonus pool was $33.8 billion, unchanged from the previous year and far below the $42.7 billion total in 2021. “Wall Street’s average cash bonuses dipped slightly from last year, with continued market volatility and more people joining the securities workforce,” DiNapoli said in a statement Tuesday. “While these bonuses affect income-tax revenues for the state and city, both budgeted for larger declines so the impact on projected revenues should be limited.” The pervasive slump in mergers and initial public offerings continues to weigh on banker bonuses as interest rates remain elevated, crimping capital-markets activity. The chief executives at some of the biggest US banks are expecting an end to the dealmaking drought in the coming months, with the Federal Reserve expected to finally start cutting rates. The comptroller’s estimate is based on trends in personal income-tax withholdings and includes cash bonuses for work in 2023 as well as bonuses deferred from prior years that have been cashed in. It doesn’t take into account stock options or other types of deferred compensation. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

ECONOMIC DATA

A survey that provides key information for a closely watched US inflation measure will soon reflect household work that is overwhelmingly done by women. Women provide nearly 80 percent of household services that are crucial to sustaining spending and living standards, such as childcare and do-it-yourself home repairs, according to a report contracted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The findings are expected to be integrated into consumption figures that inform the consumer price index. The CPI relies on the Consumer Expenditure Surveys to understand how households spend their money. The BLS, which conducts the surveys and publishes the CPI, wanted to develop a measure of home production given its outsized role for consumption during the pandemic, and contracted the Levy Economics Institute — a nonpartisan public policy think tank out of Bard College — to do the job. “The authors of the report hope that their efforts contribute to closer scrutiny of household production and aid in the formulation of policies to reduce gender inequality and economic inequality,” the institute said in a release Tuesday. While families buy things like food and cellphones to maintain a certain quality of life, there are also intangible services done within the home that are important in that regard. Household production — which includes activities like cooking, cleaning and elder care as well — contributes to spending, which is why the authors say “some measure of its monetary value should be included in a broad measure of consumption.” — BLOOMBERG NEWS