The Diversity Project’s SMART Working workstream in partnership with Qlearsite surveyed over 500 participants in the savings and investment industry to assess the state of the industry with regards to smarter working.
The findings show that the industry is ahead of the curve when it comes to enabling employees to work more flexibly based on location. However, it also reinforces the need for organisations to view sustainable and effective flexible working as a powerful tool to Build Back Better.
Three Key Takeaways
- Employees feel enabled to work. 92% of respondents agree that their organisation is able to maintain good ways of working and are supported to do their jobs effectively regardless of work location. This is an indication that industry has adapted well to working from home, providing the right tools and keeping communication and collaboration levels up.
- Flexible working is the preference. A high percentage of the participants (74% of women and 55% of men) want to continue working remotely, and don’t want to return to the office permanently. 78% agreed that they are more productive working from home with most also highlighting their concerns about personal safety and wellbeing.
- Smarter working is here to stay. Majority of respondents (66%) do not see the office as their primary work location in the future, a clear indication that the need for smarter working is not going away and the conversation needs to be moved to the next level.
The findings of the survey reinforces our call for action outlined in the SMART Working Manifesto for Change, which presents a challenge to the savings and investment industry to ensure flexible working is encouraged and developed more strategically within organisations. For firms to retain and attract best and most diverse talent it’s important to bridge the gap between a reactive approach to remote working and a more inclusive long-term framework for smarter working that is future fit for a post pandemic workplace.
View the full Return to Work survey report here.
About SMART Working
The SMART Working workstream within the Diversity Project promotes flexible working practices across the savings and investment industry. Our mission is to encourage organisations to attract and retain the best and most diverse talent in order to cultivate inclusive multigenerational workplaces, and also to support and encourage all individuals to remain within the industry throughout all life events.
