The banking industry, perhaps more than most sectors, is grappling with how to balance employee flexibility with maintaining control, as Michael Johnson explains. Many banks, especially in the U.S., are currently scaling back on flexible working policies introduced during COVID. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has even suggested that employees unwilling to return to the office five days a week should seek employment elsewhere.
In contrast, Atom, a UK challenger bank, has taken a significantly different approach by introducing a four-day working week. The bank reduced contracted weekly hours by 3.5 to 34, spread over four days, without cutting salaries. Atom’s 547 employees can work from anywhere during those four days, with no mandatory office days.
The benefits of flexibility?
Since implementing this model in 2021, Atom’s CEO, Mark Mullen, has stated that he’s found it “considerably less challenging” than hybrid policies, and the results speak for themselves: lower attrition rates, fewer sick days, and the bank’s first-ever profit last year.
It’s also clear that Mullen understands that introducing new processes and operating models only works if employees are on board. For example, he has explained that Atom’s four-day week was planned carefully, including engaging and consulting employees on contract changes. In contrast, he argues that mandating office days, even under hybrid arrangements, fosters resentment among workers and can leave managers hesitant to ask employees to return.
To illustrate that point, Deutsche Bank’s recent policy of banning remote work on consecutive Fridays and Mondays has faced “enormous resistance,” according to the president of the union that represents the bank’s staff, DBV.
The importance of listening and adapting
This highlights the risk of imposing changes on employees without listening to them.
The challenge for the banking industry is that essentially forcing people back into the office, whether five days a week or on specific days, misses the point. Businesses should acknowledge that the pandemic has shown that truly high-performing employees can deliver results from anywhere. If employees need to be in the office to accomplish something, they will be – but if they don’t, perhaps we should not force them to be.
Indeed, employers stuck on ‘yesterday’s solutions/processes’ may not be addressing ‘today’s challenges/problems’. Leaders who fail to recognise this risk alienating their workforce and, in the long term, limiting their success.
Rather than reverting to outdated, restrictive norms, businesses need to be adaptable and adopt relevant policies that meet modern employee expectations. While many ‘office advocates’ point to the perceived drawbacks of remote work, fewer acknowledge its clear performance benefits. Take, for example, the ability of technologies like Zoom and Teams to enable employees to connect with many more people in different locations and make faster decisions on a daily basis.
Remove barriers to performance, don’t create them
Insisting that all employees must be in the same place all of the time – and spend hours commuting to get there – can create unnecessary barriers. For example, JPMorgan employees have reported being pulled into virtual meetings despite being back in the office, creating a “Zoom culture” that undermines the very point of their return.
Therefore, leaders are advised to invest in the right tools and capabilities, and to consider a 21st-century, adaptable operating model, rather than enforcing a 20th-century approach on a workforce that has already embraced flexibility.
Some roles will of course always require physical presence. However, in industries like banking, the offer of greater flexibility can drive performance and align with the expectations of future generations; who will increasingly value mobility over being tied to a desk.
It’s true that JPMorgan’s Dimon holds significant influence in his sector, often setting trends for Wall Street and beyond. However, his stance on flexible work may be a step too far in the face of major cultural and generational shifts. Always being present should not be equated with high productivity or performance.
As Atom Bank has demonstrated, truly flexible working isn’t a “woke” practice; it delivers measurable benefits in retention, performance, and profitability. The key lesson is that businesses must focus on empowering their employees to work effectively, wherever they may be. If leaders treat their employees like adults, they are more likely to behave, act and perform like adults (of course with reasonable and measurable accompanying expectations of performance and delivery). If employees are treated as children or ‘subordinates’, negative reactions to imposed restrictions and conditions will increase and performance, engagement, trust, loyalty and commitment levels will steadily decline.
To find out how NSCG can help you develop working approaches and models that empower and motivate employees, get in touch: https://nscg.com/contact/