Working from home “didn’t work,” Wall Street bosses say at the Davos summit — as the Citigroup boss says idlers should be dragged back to the office until their productivity improves
- Jane Fraser said it’s important for staff to work together
- Other Wall Street bosses have expressed frustration with employees working from home
- Ms. Fraser is more open to the idea of flexible working than other bank bosses
- But at the World Economic Forum in Davos, she said a line had to be drawn
- BlackRock’s Larry Fink simply said that “working remotely didn’t work”.
The British boss of Wall Street banking giant Citigroup warned yesterday that slackers who work from home will be brought back to the office for coaching.
Jane Fraser said it was important for employees to work together and learn from “eccentrics” in the workplace, as she did.
Other Wall Street bosses have expressed frustration at employees’ continued absence since the pandemic, with one saying the practice “didn’t work.”
Ms. Fraser was more open to the idea of flexible working than other New York bank executives, but she made it clear that a line had to be drawn.
Jane Fraser said it was important for employees to work together and learn from “eccentrics” in the workplace, as she did.
Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest wealth manager, was more direct when speaking at the same event hosted by Bloomberg
She said at an event at the World Economic Forum in Davos: “I think there is an important balance here.
“We can see how productive someone is or not. When they’re not productive, we take them back to the office or back to the job site and we give them the coaching they need until they’re productive again.’
Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest wealth manager, was more direct when speaking at the same event hosted by Bloomberg.
He said, “The remote work didn’t work.”
Citi is based in New York but has offices around the world, including a large presence in London, where it employs more than 6,000 people.
Morgan Stanley chairman James Gorman told employees in 2021 that if they wanted to earn wages in New York, they would have to work in the city.
Ms Fraser has tended to take a less harsh approach, and last month the bank said most staff could work from anywhere during the last two weeks of the year.
Last year, Citi even opened a hub in Malaga and hired 30 young professionals from around the world to offer a better work-life balance there.
Ms Fraser said flexible working during the pandemic has helped “attract and retain our talent and get the best out of them”.
She said the bank wants to meet the needs of employees to ensure “they can deliver excellence for clients and the job”.
All Street bosses have expressed frustration at staff continuing to stay away since the pandemic, with one saying the practice “didn’t work”.
But she added: “What we’ve learned is that we want people to work together and they work better together. The training is really important.
“Growing up I learned the hard way, certainly by observing and learning from some eccentric or talkative characters, but what taught me was … that feedback matters and it happens when you’re together — more easily.”
“We’ve been trying to send more of our juniors home at the end of the day so they can work from there.”
The Scottish-born financier became the first woman to run a Wall Street when she took over as CEO of Citi in 2021.
She has worked for the US giant since 2004. M
s Fraser was paid £18m for her first year in the position – although that was far below the salary levels enjoyed by her colleagues at other US banks, including Goldman Sachs.