BNY Mellon told staff it would review their ability to work from home. Now it's backtracking.

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• Bank of New York Mellon Corp. in November told its staff that it would assess their ability to work from home.
• It's now hit pause on restricting employees' option of working from home, according to a note seen by Business Insider.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. backed away from restricting employees' option of working from home, according to a note seen by Business Insider.

In November, the New York custodian bank informed its employees that it would assess their ability to work from home. On March 6, the firm said it was pausing those plans.

"We have decided to immediately hit pause on implementing any changes to remote working arrangements," CEO Charlie Scharf wrote in a note dated to March 6, addressing to his 51,300 employees across the globe.

"We did not fully appreciate the level of impact this would have on those employees with existing arrangements" and "have not been clear enough about our principles," Scharf wrote in the note. Bloomberg previously reported on the note.

Scharf said the bank would take the next couple of months to re-evaluate its policy and that employees could revert to their previous work schedules for the present.