Phone-based workers will be on campus one week a month

Gas has topped $4 a gallon in New Hampshire (Mark Hayward)

Since COVID-19, New Hampshire workers at Fidelity Investments have transitioned from working remotely to spending at least a week or two per month at the company’s sprawling Merrimack campus. Soon most of them will have to give up comfy pajamas for business casual every day.

The Boston-based financial company announced April 29 that New Hampshire is one of four Fidelity sites that will transition to a full-time, onsite schedule beginning in September.

The change will affect all New Hampshire employees except those in “customer-facing, phone-based roles,” who will work in the office one week on a four-week rotation, the company said. Managers who are at the vice president level or above at all Fidelity sites will also be required to work full time on-site.

With more than 7,900 workers in New Hampshire — more than the 6,200 based at its Boston headquarters — Fidelity is one of the state’s largest private employers. In addition to Merrimack and Boston, Fidelity sites in Kentucky and New Mexico will be the first to transition to the new policy. The company employs about 80,000 people globally.

About 35% of the workers in Merrimack work directly with customers and clients every day, and an additional 22% are in technology roles, according to Fidelity. The New Hampshire campus is also headquarters to the company’s Fixed Income division, which manages over $2 trillion in fixed income assets.

Since the pandemic, Fidelity has taken several steps toward bringing workers back, including offering a daily $10 lunch voucher in 2022 to entice workers to return. Its most recent policy has required most workers to be on campus for two weeks per month.

“Fidelity has taken a thoughtful, gradual approach to returning to the office full time, all while keeping our customers and associates top of mind,” a company spokesperson said via email. “Fidelity’s belief is that being physically together creates more opportunities for a meaningful associate experience filled with connection, mentorship and learning — elements that are central to our long term success.”

To achieve its goals to bring workers back to all the company’s sites, Fidelity said it will need more space and capacity — more than it needed before the pandemic.

Over most of the past six years, the company has been on a hiring spree, hiring thousands of workers. Back in September 2022, when Fidelity invited a reporter to tour the Merrimack campus, its headcount in New Hampshire was 6,700 — about 1,200 fewer than now.

“Fidelity is continuously evolving its ways of working and physical footprint, including plans to continue hiring and increase capacity across our regions to ensure we provide the best products and services for our customers,” the company spokesperson said.

The return to full-time work at Fidelity will be a boon for the local economy, says Merrimack Town Manager Steve Micali. The second biggest employer in town is the Merrimack Premium Outlets, located across the road from Fidelity.

“The commitment that Fidelity is providing to the community is great news for Merrimack,” Micali said, noting the approaches U.S. companies have taken to adjusting their remote and hybrid policies since the pandemic. Disney called employees back to work four days a week in 2023. Amazon ordered its workers back to the office full time in 2024.

The majority of jobs at eBay continue to be hybrid, according to the company’s website: “These employees split their time between working remotely and on-site at a specific eBay office location. Leaders, teams and individuals work together to determine when to be on-site to drive results and achieve business and personal goals.”