Starting in 2019, Deloitte’s ongoing series, “Within Reach,” has delved into the attainability of global gender parity within financial services leadership. Presently, Deloitte has unveiled a fresh addition to this series, produced in partnership with the autonomous research body Workplace Intelligence.
The report casts a spotlight on the perspectives and prospects of executives within prominent U.S. financial institutions.
The study titled “Nurturing Employee Engagement in Financial Services” investigates the robust correlation between flexible and remote work setups and their impact on engagement, retention, and other pivotal outcomes.
Of the surveyed employees who engage in remote work to some extent, a notable 66% indicate a likelihood of leaving their job if the company mandates a return to a five-day office workweek.Other key findings include:
- Return-to-office directives disproportionately impact caregivers. Surveyed leaders with caregiving responsibilities were 1.3 times more prone than non-caregivers to express an intent to depart from their organization if remote work options were revoked by their company.
- Surveyed leaders exhibit a preference for adaptable work setups as opposed to rigid office frameworks. Despite certain financial services establishments mandating a physical office presence for three to four days weekly, merely 18% of participants indicate that this structure aligns with their preferred arrangement.
- Although remote work has contributed positively to engagement and well-being, the majority of surveyed leaders anticipate potential drawbacks. Within the group of leaders maintaining hybrid work arrangements, a significant 62% of participants expressed a desire to increase their remote work frequency yet harbored concerns about its perceived impact on their career trajectory.
Executives within U.S. financial services establishments ought to view these discoveries as a compelling catalyst for action.
While office-based work could potentially yield mutual benefits for both organizations and their staff, realizing this potential may remain elusive if there continues to be resistance towards return-to-office mandates.