The curtailment of mandatory home working has prompted a discussion within the banking world regarding the future structure of everyday working life, Andrea Hoffmann writes in an essay for finews.first
This article is published on finews.first, a forum for authors specialized in economic and financial topics.
The initial approaches adopted by several institutions also demonstrated an increased degree of flexibility that reflects the preferences of their employees. It can already be seen that the «culture of being onsite» seen in past years has come to an end as a result of the pandemic.
Over the past year and a half, institutions have been able to clearly analyze the areas in which the new, more autonomous work culture is working and where efficiency and productivity benefits have been created. Accordingly, it is now possible to grant teams greater freedom on a permanent basis.
«Sharing desks can be expected to become the norm»
However, it is also clear that there are – and probably always will be – specific tasks where pure remote working will not be sustainable. Creative team projects, in particular, require direct interaction between employees to foster optimal dynamics.
Another issue that should not be neglected relates to space requirements and the size of offices. Huge office spaces make sense as long as hygiene concepts dictate that the available space be sparsely occupied. Even today, potential savings in office rents are hotly debated. New concepts have long been trialed and/or expanded, such as «flexible desks».
Employees often no longer have a fixed workstation, instead of working wherever there is sufficient space: sharing desks can be expected to become the norm in the back office of banks in the medium term.
«Flexible working is set to become a competitive advantage in banking»
However, the embrace of more innovative concepts and a changed mindset in the financial world – which has a reputation for being rather conservative – are not driven exclusively by positive experiences or recognized savings opportunities. It also cannot be overlooked that, in the global «war for talent», the major banks, in particular, are aligning with international standards.
In their battle with not only the big financial players but also with tech institutions from North America, Great Britain and Asia to recruit the top industry talent, Swiss flagship institutions simply cannot ignore New Work ideas. Flexible working is set to become a competitive advantage.
«There will be a move to impose greater control»
The brave new world of work initially sounds very comfortable for Swiss bankers. However, it should not be forgotten that for employees in the back office or administrative roles involving repetitive work, a permanent move away from a «face-to-face» workplace and the elimination of direct customer interactions could result in increased pressure.
Whereas in the past, when time spent in the office was itself considered proof of work, the focus is now shifting even more squarely to the outputs that teams generate. While various analyses also suggest that working at home has a positive effect on performance in various areas, it must be assumed that there will be a move to impose greater control.
«Consideration is also being given to whether home-based employees are paid differently»
If employees no longer work together onsite on specific projects, the trend towards nearshoring can be expected to continue to gather pace. This involves clearly defined technical and administrative tasks being outsourced and carried out by cross-border teams – for example in Southern or Eastern European locations.
Against a backdrop of rapidly accelerating digitalization, this approach is increasingly associated with fewer technical problems than was the case even just a few years ago. In addition, there is now good training and strong technological know-how to facilitate such an approach. Furthermore, regulatory knowledge of the market, as well as cultural and language considerations, should not be underestimated.
In some instances, consideration is also being given to whether home-based employees are paid differently for the same work than those who work out of the office, with cheaper living costs outside the Swiss metropolitan centers also cited as an argument for lower salaries.
«This trend is not free of risks»
In my opinion, this approach will not prevail in Switzerland; rather, financial institutions will continue down the path of relocating certain back-office locations to lower-cost regions.
It should be noted that, while newfound freedoms can significantly improve the work-life balance of local bankers, the trend is not free of risks.
Andrea Hoffmann is a partner at banking consultancy Capco in Zurich. The political scientist is an expert on transformation topics in the financial industry. Among other things, he deals with the adaptation of IT strategies and their implementation. A major focus at present is on the design of new-work strategies of financial institutions.
Previous contributions: Rudi Bogni, Peter Kurer, Rolf Banz, Dieter Ruloff, Werner Vogt, Walter Wittmann, Alfred Mettler, Robert Holzach, Craig Murray, David Zollinger, Arthur Bolliger, Beat Kappeler, Chris Rowe, Stefan Gerlach, Marc Lussy, Nuno Fernandes, Richard Egger, Maurice Pedergnana, Marco Bargel, Steve Hanke, Urs Schoettli, Ursula Finsterwald, Stefan Kreuzkamp, Oliver Bussmann, Michael Benz, Albert Steck, Martin Dahinden, Thomas Fedier, Alfred Mettler, Brigitte Strebel, Mirjam Staub-Bisang, Nicolas Roth, Thorsten Polleit, Kim Iskyan, Stephen Dover, Denise Kenyon-Rouvinez, Christian Dreyer, Kinan Khadam-Al-Jame, Robert Hemmi, Anton Affentranger, Yves Mirabaud, Katharina Bart, Frédéric Papp, Hans-Martin Kraus, Gerard Guerdat, Mario Bassi, Stephen Thariyan, Dan Steinbock, Rino Borini, Bert Flossbach, Michael Hasenstab, Guido Schilling, Werner E. Rutsch, Dorte Bech Vizard, Adriano B. Lucatelli, Katharina Bart, Maya Bhandari, Jean Tirole, Hans Jakob Roth, Marco Martinelli, Thomas Sutter, Tom King, Werner Peyer, Thomas Kupfer, Peter Kurer, Arturo Bris, Frederic Papp, James Syme, Dennis Larsen, Bernd Kramer, Ralph Ebert, Armin Jans, Nicolas Roth, Hans Ulrich Jost, Patrick Hunger, Fabrizio Quirighetti, Claire Shaw, Peter Fanconi, Alex Wolf, Dan Steinbock, Patrick Scheurle, Sandro Occhilupo, Will Ballard, Nicholas Yeo, Claude-Alain Margelisch, Jean-François Hirschel, Jens Pongratz, Samuel Gerber, Philipp Weckherlin, Anne Richards, Antoni Trenchev, Benoit Barbereau, Pascal R. Bersier, Shaul Lifshitz, Klaus Breiner, Ana Botín, Martin Gilbert, Jesper Koll, Ingo Rauser, Carlo Capaul, Claude Baumann, Markus Winkler, Konrad Hummler, Thomas Steinemann, Christina Boeck, Guillaume Compeyron, Miro Zivkovic, Alexander F. Wagner, Eric Heymann, Christoph Sax, Felix Brem, Jochen Moebert, Jacques-Aurélien Marcireau, Ursula Finsterwald, Claudia Kraaz, Michel Longhini, Stefan Blum, Zsolt Kohalmi, Karin M. Klossek, Nicolas Ramelet, Søren Bjønness, Andreas Britt, Gilles Prince, Darren Willams, Salman Ahmed, Stephane Monier, and Peter van der Welle, Ken Orchard, Christian Gast, Jeffrey Bohn, Juergen Braunstein, Jeff Voegeli, Fiona Frick, Stefan Schneider, Matthias Hunn, Andreas Vetsch, Fabiana Fedeli, Marionna Wegenstein, Kim Fournais, Carole Millet, Ralph Ebert, Swetha Ramachandran, Brigitte Kaps, Thomas Stucki, Neil Shearing, Claude Baumann, Tom Naratil, Oliver Berger, Robert Sharps, Tobias Mueller, Florian Wicki, Jean Keller, Niels Lan Doky, Karin M. Klossek, Ralph Ebert, Johnny El Hachem, Judith Basad, Katharina Bart, Thorsten Polleit, Bernardo Brunschwiler, Peter Schmid, Karam Hinduja, Zsolt Kohalmi, Raphaël Surber, Santosh Brivio, Mark Urquhart, Olivier Kessler, Bruno Capone, Peter Hody, Lars Jaeger, Andrew Isbester, Florin Baeriswyl, and Michael Bornhaeusser, Agnieszka Walorska, Thomas Mueller, Ebrahim Attarzadeh, Marcel Hostettler, Hui Zhang, Michael Bornhaeusser, Reto Jauch, Angela Agostini, Guy de Blonay, Tatjana Greil Castro, Jean-Baptiste Berthon, Marc Saint John Webb, Dietrich Goenemeyer, Mobeen Tahir, Didier Saint-Georges, Serge Tabachnik, Rolando Grandi, Vega Ibanez, Beat Wittmann, David Folkerts-Landau, Andreas Ita, Teodoro Cocca, Michael Welti, Mihkel Vitsur, Fabrizio Pagani, Roman Balzan, Todd Saligman, Christian Kaelin, Stuart Dunbar, Fernando Fernández, Lars Jaeger, Carina Schaurte, and Birte Orth-Freese, Gun Woo, Lamara von Albertini, Philip Adler, Ramon Vogt, and Gérard Piasko.
