A forward-thinking virtual panel kicked off Nicsa’s 2020 General Membership Meeting October 7 by addressing the question on nearly every professional’s mind: What will it take for the asset management industry to reopen offices safely?
Justin Hall, Partner at PwC, who moderated the session, said that over the past six months, he’s seen the conversation evolve from keeping businesses operational as they go remote to safely reopening offices.
“Then, with the realization that reopening was probably not happening at a large scale in a lot of cases, the conversation evolved to: 1) ‘How do I keep my workforce productive and avoiding burnout while they’re at home?’ and 2) ‘How do I reimagine the workforce of the future for the long term, having learned those lessons of going remote and operating in that mode for a number of months?’”
Victoria McGowan, Deputy Head of Global Fund Administration at BNY Mellon, said that as a firm with a global footprint, BNY Mellon must balance local dynamics with international guidance.
“We have to attack this from each jurisdiction, first considering guidelines issued by local governments,” she said. “Then, we look at it from a role perspective. We know we are missing that in-office collaboration, but if we start to bring people back to the office who aren’t working, we’re still not going to achieve anything in terms of collaboration.”
Stacey Winning, Deputy Head of Global Human Resources at Dimensional Fund Advisors, said her firm is taking a data-driven approach with a heavy focus on employee well-being, both mental and physical.
“We’ve been surveying different regions of our population to get a sense of whether they want to come back and what would make them feel most safe,” she said. “For some that might be wearing masks. For others, it might be coming into the office later to avoid mass transit congestion. We are using real insights from our employee base, combined with local levels of government and jurisdictions around the world, to help guide our approach.”
EMERGING BENEFITS
Despite being forced to rapidly adapt to a new normal, the panelists said they have been able to find silver linings in the crisis.
Winning pointed to eases in logistics: “It’s significantly easier to schedule things, you don’t need conference rooms, and you’re not contending with travel schedules — which positively impacts the speed of decision-making.”
McGowan said that individuals who worked remotely before the pandemic now enjoy an enhanced sense of community. “When we think about our global teams, we’ve found that groups in locations outside of the main offices feel more heard, connected, and part of the team,” she said. “That’s been a real positive.”
Winning echoed those sentiments, adding that the move to a digital workforce has brought people together, however unexpectedly.
“I think the blurring of work and home has created a new avenue for building repertoire in a significant way as it relates to understanding who your colleagues are as people — not just as colleagues,” she said. “It’s been profound. It helps with inclusion and helps with the overall sense of belonging you have at a company.”
GRAPPLING WITH DOWNSIDES
Stephen Jones, Global Head of Corporate Services at Dimensional Fund Advisors, outlined some of the challenges.
“We’ve had to focus intentionally on connectedness, more than ever before in the 40 years of our firm,” he said. “Other risks and challenges have been centered on changing guidance. It seems like we wake up every morning with new guidance from a country we do business in or have employees in. We are constantly channeling that information, making sure that it is current and accurate so that we can make the best decisions for our company.”
McGowan said that while productivity has significantly increased during the last six months, so has the risk for burnout.
“Folks are logging on earlier; they don’t have commutes, so they’re getting on at 7 a.m. and maybe staying on until 7 p.m.,” she said. “In some cases, where employees can create a more flexible schedule, that’s a positive. But at the same time, we don’t want people working 11 hours a day for years at a time. That’s not sustainable.”
Hall said PwC now employs an initiative known as “Stop the Grind” designed to take the pressure off of employees through shorter meetings, time away from video chat, and other measures.
“In some ways, the lower friction we’ve alluded to with not traveling as much has increased the volume of meetings, which can be stacked back to back. Burnout is definitely a risk,” he said.
Winning said that while remote work may remain the norm for some employees, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution.
“We all know that whatever we’re returning to is going to look pretty different than what we left,” she said. “We went from mostly everyone in the office to mostly everyone at home, but I don’t know that either of those scenarios are sustainable. The future is going to focus on what’s in the middle through a lot of trial and error.”
Note: Although the observations contained in this work represent the best thoughts of the individuals comprising the Nicsa panel, they do not necessarily reflect the views of Nicsa or any of its member organizations. Matters addressed in this work may touch upon legal or regulatory matters, however nothing herein is intended to be or should be construed as legal advice. You should contact your own counsel in order to obtain legal advice regarding these or any other matters.
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