DNB, Norway's largest bank, ends fixed work-from-home days

DNB, Norway’s largest bank, has told staff that from October the office will be the default workplace five days a week, ending the two fixed working-from-home days that had been in place since the pandemic. Home working remains possible, but it must now be agreed case by case with a manager rather than taken as a standing entitlement, according to Norwegian outlets including E24, reporting on 13 August 2026.

Why this matters: For remote workers across Europe’s finance sector, DNB’s move signals that fixed remote days are the perk most exposed when a large employer tightens up. The mechanism is the part to watch: shifting from a guaranteed arrangement to manager-by-manager approval removes the default without formally banning home working, which makes it far harder for staff to contest. If you are negotiating a remote arrangement inside a big organisation, get it written into your own contract rather than relying on a company-wide policy that can be reversed at will.

DNB’s decision landed in the same week that ABN AMRO in the Netherlands pushed for a 50% office-attendance minimum, putting European banks, rather than US tech firms, at the visible edge of the current return-to-office tightening. It also runs against the wider European direction of travel: Eurofound’s 2024 data shows occasional teleworking has climbed to 22% of employees, and several member states are legislating on the right to disconnect. The banking sector is moving the other way.