JPMorgan Chase has asked thousands of its office workers across the consumer banking division to continue working from home until next year, Bloomberg reported.

The Wall Street giant communicated the directive mostly to its US-based employees through memos.

These workers have been working remotely to curb the spread of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

The directive excludes branch employees and few people in operations, such as senior traders, who were asked to return to offices by last week.

JPMorgan’s consumer and community banking unit has a total of 122,089 employees, mostly in the US.

In one of the memos, JPMorgan noted: “Generally, anyone working remotely today will continue to do so through the end of the year, assuming we can maintain productivity levels.

“Our overall productivity levels have remained high. That’s remarkable and something that should make us all proud.”

Nearly 25% of the bank’s employees are working from offices in the New York area, the publication reported citing a source familiar with the matter.

Many other JPMorgan’s locations have remained shut since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Initially, the lender planned to return its office staff to outposts in Columbus, Ohio. However, as the Covid-19 cases surged, it dropped this staffing plan indefinitely.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said that his bank has seen “alienation” among young employees and added that extending remote working can bring long-term economic and social damage.

He also said that productivity is being affected among certain groups, according to Bloomberg.

Dimon has permitted individual business leaders to decide when to bring staff back to the office, subject to guidance from local government and health authorities.

Last week, JPMorgan was planning to relocate nearly 200 London employees as no-deal Brexit is looming.