It’s time to come clean. Maybe it’s an age thing, a lack of imagination, a desperate void where my soul should be? I don’t know, but I just can’t see why anyone wants to spend their every working day quietly at home. During lockdown, I never bought an office chair or flat-pack desk — the front room is cluttered enough, thank you. There’s nothing wrong with my kitchen, but I don’t want to spend all day there.
Office avoiders in high finance may have the weakest hand already: skittish markets and uncertain executives have crashed advisory and capital markets revenue this year globally. Activity could rebound a bit in September after a summer lull, but revenue in the third quarter so far is half that of the same summer months last year, according to Anke Reingen, banks analyst at RBC Capital Markets. Year-to-date fees are down 39% vs 2021.
This will be a stark change from the brawl between lenders during the pandemic, when they had to attract and retain staff amid a rush of fundraising and dealmaking. Banks were swamped with work, while a tech-industry and private equity boom offered riches and more excitement elsewhere, particular for the young. At the height of the recent war for talent, all you needed was a heartbeat and some Excel skills to be hired on a great base salary, while being allowed to work from anywhere.
In finance, regulatory obligations over monitoring activity and communications is paramount and ever more complicated. See the current round of $200m fines over WhatsApp use at major banks. But smart bosses also want to keep an eye on their workers’ emotional states, especially in high-stress environments. As a cold fact, that can help prevent disasters large and small.Yet when demanding a return to the office, leaders should be honest about the flexibility they have enjoyed themselves.
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