FCA staff objecting to their imminent office return say they've been ignored
As we reported this week, the Financial Conduct Authority wants its people back in the office but many of them would really like to stay at home.
Emails sent to staff by the FCA, combined with the contents of an internal chatroom, both shared with eFinancialCareers, highlight the awkward stand-off.
On one hand, the FCA has tried to be accommodating. It's only asking for most of its people to be in the office 50% of the time (60% for executive directors and directors). It's only assessing compliance with this diktat every three months, giving staff leeway to distribute in-office days across 60-day periods. And it's delaying the imposition of the new requirements until September, so that parents can work from home during the summer holidays. It's even paying £300 to support its homeworkers, again.
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As at SocGen, however, FCA people seem disinclined to feel all that grateful. Working from home is very popular. It seems that coming into the office is not.
When the change was announced this week, an FCA meeting (attended online by its homeworkers) was deluged with disparaging comments. Employees seemed particularly exercised by the fact that the regulator had asked them whether they wanted to return to the office, that they'd said "no," and yet, they were being ignored. “It seems slightly odd to have a staff survey and then ignore the majority response to the main question,” said one typical commenter.
Another claimed that staff weren't being listened to and said: “What’s best for the organisation is a happy ship. A happy ship is a productive ship." The same person observed that the summons to the office followed other unpopular changes like a higher excess on Bupa, the removal of bonuses and the introduction of "the awful bell curve" rating system. In combination, they said these are not the best for morale. The comment received 31 likes and six 100% emojis.
Sarah Pritchard, the FCA's deputy chief executive, emailed staff on Tuesday to explain that the increased time in the office will encourage "greater collaboration and innovation" and strengthen a "shared sense of purpose" among other things. Her staff are not so sure. “Apparently we are all going to have more ad hoc conversations in the lifts and that will magically produce an improvement in organisational productivity,” wrote one. “How does this improve f2f collaboration when there is no guarantee that those you wish to collaborate with attend the office on the same days?,” wrote another.
A spokesperson for the FCA told us: “Colleagues will inevitably have a range of views on the change, and most of the discussions we’ve had have focused on how we make it work. We believe a 50/50 split between time in the office and at home will deliver greater collaboration and innovation, support the mentoring and development of colleagues, help us to solve complex or novel problems more easily, improve communication and strengthen our shared sense of purpose – all of which enrich us an organisation.”
Many banks now expect people in the office full-time. As well as allowing people to spend 50% of the week at home, the regulator has a subsidized restaurant,a subsidized coffee bar and a subsidized fitness centre. It also offers interest free loans for season tickets (to get into the office as required).
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