City exodus shakes up finance professionals’ working norms
As restrictions ease and offices re-open, a top heavy power shift has occurred in the management of UK businesses. Employees have seen great success in their work in the last year and a half working from home, resulting in an exodus of professionals from the City and calls for long term working norm shifts. Gone are the days that finance professionals work long, traditional hours in City offices as they now call for greater work-life balance. Consultancy and accounting disruptors, Theta Global Advisors has been at the forefront of this shift, advising clients on new management and working structures to see teams excel post-pandemic.
According to landmark research from Theta Global Advisors, 44% of Brits say that their experiences throughout Covid-19 has made living in the City less appealing and 10% have already moved away from cities or urban areas. Previously, the draws of cities, particularly the capital, have enticed top talent in the finance sector and have kept them for their career progressions and a certain lifestyle. However, as priorities have shifted personally, professional’s working priorities have taken a similar turn.
A national study commissioned by Theta Global Advisors, dissects the newly emotive measures that define productivity in the workplace and how, at its core, stand empathetic bosses who are adapting policies long term to maintain top talent, and respond to new priorities post-pandemic.
Theta Global Advisors’ nationally representative research on the sentiments of British workers and businesses as to attitudes to the future of work shows:
Key Stats
- 10% of Brits have moved away from a city or urban area
- 44% of Brits feel that the impact of coronavirus has made living in a city less appealing
- Almost a quarter (24%) of Brits will no longer commute into a city for their job post-pandemic
- 24% of Brits have seriously considered moving out of the city to a more rural area due to the pandemic
- 40% of Brits agree that given their experience over the last year, their employer forcing a strict return to pre-pandemic office norms would hinder their performance
- More than half (51%) of Brits agree that they have seen the quality of their work or their productivity improve due to increased employer empathy, flexibility, and working from home over the last year
Chris Biggs, partner at Theta Global Advisors – a consultancy and accounting disruptor – has commented: “With employees confidently calling for strong work-life balance and options to work from home long term now that we are leaving our corridor of lockdowns, working environments are looking like they will never return to what they were in 2019, changing very much for the better. Attitudes to the future of work have affirmatively shifted, and to ensure people are at their happiest and most productive, flexibility is needed in both where and when they work. Freedom from the office must also mean freedom to go to the office to account for different experiences, priorities, and conditions. New policies will account for substantial differentiations in employees’ experience of working during Covid-19. However, greater flexibility is still needed to account for different experiences and resources on a case-by-case basis.
As such, while employers may instinctively want to see their staff back in the office and for work to go ‘back to normal’ as soon as possible, this is not necessarily the strongest or most sensible approach. Professionals no longer see their being based in the City as an overwhelming positive, with lots of top talent preferring to live elsewhere and invest in a better environment in which to work from home post-pandemic. Working culture and expectations have changed, and if approached with empathy and flexibility, will result in a far happier, more productive workforce delivering work of a higher standard than before Covid-19. Employees have proven they can be effective when given flexible options or working from home, and employers need to respond to this with trust and structured flexibility approaches allowing employees to alter as necessary.”