Abrdn, formerly known as Standard Life Aberdeen, announced that despite restrictions being lifted in England, the company would continue embracing remote work. According to the CEO, Stephen Bird, the asset management business proved that remote work is effective on a large scale.
London is slowly returning to pre-pandemic life, as the country started lifting restrictions on July 19th. Many companies were eager to return to the office after working remotely for more than 16 months.
Abrdn: Remote Work Works on A Large Scale
Big employers around the world are taking a hard-line approach in terms of remote work. In the U.S., firms such as JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley have clearly stated that all employees are expected to return to the office. However, other companies are still embracing hybrid as the new way of working, like the case of Abrdn.
The company recently announced that it’s opting for a flexible approach. They’ve realized that they can work remotely on a large scale and produce positive results.
One of the big lessons we’ve learned over the past 12 months is that there is much greater flexibility in the workforce and in ways of working than we’d ever have thought possible. We’ve proved remote working on a large scale can be effective. Of course, that doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges.
Bird highlighted the importance of building a strong company culture while providing employees flexibility to choose how they want to work. Consequently, Abrdn will be working under a hybrid model.
The company’s longer-term plan is a blended working model. The firm is currently redesigning its office space to a more collaborative space.
We’ve redesigned some of our offices to be attractive places where people want to come in and work flexibly. Time in the office for colleagues will be driven by the type of work they are doing, not a prescribed amount of time or number of days per week. It will be managed by individual teams, operating a ‘neighborhood’ approach to using office space.
Stephen Bird, chief executive of Abrdn
