How many days will financial services firms require workers to be in the office going forward? The question that HR departments nationwide are mulling over could be significant for talent retention and workforce cohesion. Perhaps not surprisingly, for private equity, the answer is not one size fits all.
The plurality of private equity shops that were asked this very question by EY earlier this year said three to four days of in-office work would become the norm. Current return to work plans with those days were favored by 66 percent of respondents with over $15 billion in assets under management—a clear favorite. Next in the preference queue was a return to the 5-day work week, the preference of respondents to the tune of mid- to high-20 percent across large, mid, and small-sized private equity firms.
Only 13 percent of those polled said their firms would remain fully remote, and even here, that figure was posted in the category of firms with less that $2.5 billion under management.
Alongside development opportunities, workers prize flexible work schedules. The emphasis on returning to in-person work might well stoke tension for a private equity industry in the throes of a war for talent.
–Brandon Zero
