The vast majority (94 percent) of private wealth professionals believe the pandemic will drive either ‘much more’ or ‘somewhat more’ homeworking on a permanent basis.
Just six percent predict there will be the same amount of homeworking as there was before the pandemic.
UK workers have been widely reported as being reluctant to return to their offices after the Covid-19 lockdown forced remote working upon the population. PAM Insight ran two surveys in July and August among industry professionals to see where the private wealth industry stands on the issue.
As more homeworking appears inevitable, remote meetings are also naturally here to stay.
Fifty percent say they will conduct ‘a great many more’ meetings online in two years’ time, while a further 42 percent said they will hold ‘somewhat more’ meetings online, when compared with the pre-pandemic period. Just eight percent said they will conduct the same number of meetings online as they did in pre-pandemic times.
In terms of returning to the office in the near future, things are still moving slowly, but there was a shift towards getting back in the office in the month between PAM Insight’s two surveys.
In July, just 12 percent said staff had returned to the office on a staggered basis, while in August 22 percent said this had happened.
Other surveys on the issue
A recent 2,000-professional survey by Theta Financial Reporting had workers predicting that 35 percent of firms would return by the end of this month - a figure which appears to have been an over-estimation.
However, some firms have relished the opportunity to be back in the office as normal. A similar fraction in each PAM Insight survey, 12 percent and 14 percent respectively, said all staff had returned as normal. These firms were based outside the UK, i.e. in Switzerland or the Channel Islands.
Meanwhile, a significant proportion of firms are still consulting on returning to the office. In the most recent survey, 35 percent were consulting, a decrease from the 42 percent that were in the July survey.
These figures are supported by external surveys and research.
A BBC report released yesterday (26 August) looked at 50 of the biggest UK employers, 24 of which of had no plans in place to return workers to the office. Twenty had opened their offices for staff unable to work from home.
There are many reasons why employees may be reluctant to return to work. The Theta survey found that 65 percent of UK workers did not feel comfortable taking public transport to work, and 57 percent were against returning to a “normal way of working in an office environment with normal office hours”.
PAM Insight’s surveys also revealed a reluctance to return to the office on a fulltime basis, suggesting employees have enjoyed the flexibility of home working.
How often employees would like to be in the office in two years' time
When asked how often they would like to be in the office in two years’ time, the most popular choice (46 percent) was two or three days a week. The next most popular choice (19 percent) was four days a week, implying employees do still appreciate the office environment.
Interestingly, the same percentage (11 percent) opted for both one day a week and five days a week.
Knee-jerk reaction or the new normal?
Some appear more sceptical about an increase in remote working.
One private client lawyer in the PAM study said talk of the "death of the office" was "greatly exaggerated".
"While the pandemic has taught the office-bound that home and remote working can operate better than they might have thought; it has also taught some of the millennial generation that the office also has its advantages and that complete freedom is a mixed blessing," the lawyer said.
"We are likely to have a mixed system in the future, but I suspect that - like cars returning to the roads after a few weeks of bike travel - the overall effect will be relatively short lived."
A trust company employee was also wary of the move towards greater remote working: "There is no I in team and the team works better together. We deliver as a team."
PAM Insight conducted two surveys among private wealth professionals asking about the private wealth industry’s remote working intentions. The first ran from July 6 to July 23, while the second ran between August 19 and August 21. You can read further results here.
