But we’re now seeing a divergence among banking behemoths. No longer is Wall Street a united front in corporate American culture. They’re each carving out their own protocols as to when and where work must get done. Citigroup and UBS have taken a hybrid approach, citing the distinct benefits of being together in person while also recognising that working remotely has benefits and creates flexibility for employees. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have pushed for employees to return to the office five days a week, saying that everything else stifles innovation, training and mentoring.
Many of these large financial institutions have invested enormous resources into office space. Goldman’s headquarters at 200 West Street cost $2 billion to build more than a decade ago and this spring, JP Morgan unveiled plans for 2.5 million square feet of office space in midtown Manhattan. It’s hard to imagine they’d leave these spaces largely empty, particularly when they think there are plenty of people who would be willing to come in and work for them. After all, big banks remain highly desirable workplaces, garnering thousands of job applicants per year only to accept, in Goldman’s case, less than 2% of them – making the institution more selective than Harvard.
No longer is Wall Street a united front in corporate American culture.
Of course, the past year has been a grand experiment with different work practices. Wall Street’s banks now have four options:
- Everyone needs to be back in the office full time.
- Everyone needs to be back in the office two or three days a week.
- Everyone can work remotely.
- Everyone can choose where they work best.
From our perspective, we think there’s an important insight that decision-makers are missing. For the first two options, being in the office gives managers the ability (or so they think) to see exactly what their employees are working on when they clock in and out, and who is meeting with whom, raising their sense of certainty. It also gives them a sense of control by dictating when and how work happens. These two actions – raising their sense of certainty and control – may make a manager feel better, but they aren’t accurately calculating how much worse it could make their teams.
According to our research, a majority of employees across a variety of sectors – 54% – don’t want to be back in the office at all and 40% want hybrid options. Only 6% of respondents want to “always or mostly” work in the office. Having to return to the office can threaten people’s sense of status, or their sense of value. They feel untrusted and treated like children. Second, it can affect their sense of autonomy, or our sense of control over a situation, which researchers have found is strongly tied to job satisfaction. Finally, returning to the office also triggers fairness threats, particularly since both the quality of people’s lives and their work performance may diminish when forced back.
The real challenge is that returning to the office isn’t a zero-sum game. A manager feeling more in control turns out to be less of an issue than an employee who feels less in control. The reason? In the brain, a drop in certainty or autonomy turns out to be significantly stronger than an increase in the same experience. Our brains are built to pay far more attention to negative experiences than positive ones, perhaps for good reason: if you miss a reward you may miss lunch, but if you miss a threat you might be lunch. The result is that managers may not notice that they feel slightly better, but their teams feel dramatically worse.
The big question that no one can answer yet, is the true cost of these different options. When you add in the emotional rawness we all still have from the roller coaster of the past two years – the net effects of offering choice in work environments may outweigh the upsides of mandating people be back in their office swivel chairs. If you require everyone back in and use the real estate, what percentage of employees will you actually lose and what does it cost to replace them? Will that cost matter if others want to come in? Similarly, we know that only 3% of Black professionals want to return to the office full-time and that women prefer working remotely compared to men. Will requiring office time then impact your diversity, if the majority of people who are happy to work nine to five in a city office come from similar demographics? Further, what is the net drop in productivity of making people return to the office, given that working from home is about 25% more productive than working in the office?
When viewed from that perspective, it may be best to consider the net effect of all these considerations, compared to the benefits of being together all week. When much of the work can be done virtually, getting together feels special; people are excited to see one another and be productive together. They feel respected and appreciated, instead of being treated like employee No. 749. They’re eager to come to the office for a few days each month for a working session and then grab drinks after. And that, ultimately, may be the best return on an investment you can make right now.
In 2021, the average payout for New York securities workers was $257,500 as deal-making and trading activity by big banks hit record levels amid surging global stock markets.
New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli called the higher than expected figures “welcome news.”
In 2021, Wall Street contributed approximately 18% of all the taxes collected in New York. This is expected to help New York City trump its projections for income tax revenue.
"We have an April 1 budget deadline for the state, and this is welcome news,” DiNapoli said. “It gives them a little bit more breathing room.”
Several factors are expected to impact Wall Street bonuses this year, including record-high inflation, ongoing post-pandemic recovery, and the economic fallout from Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Presently, New York City and state are estimating that incentive compensation packages for securities industry workers in 2022 will drop by an average of 16%.
"While we have not concluded that the various financial statements, as a whole, contain material discrepancies, based on the totality of the circumstances, we believe our advice to no longer rely upon those financial statements is appropriate," Mazars said in its February 9th letter to Trump Organization attorney Alan Garten.
Monday’s disclosure of the letter comes as part of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil investigation into Donald Trump’s New York-based real estate business. The investigation partially overlaps with the Manhattan District Attorney’s criminal investigation, which James joined in May, into the Trump Organization’s practices.
New York state’s attorney general claims the Trump Organization frequently misrepresented the value of its assets to obtain financial benefits.
Mazars said it had reached its decision based on a January filing by James, as well as its own investigation, and information for internal and external sources.
Mazars has said it no longer plans to work with the former president’s company. In response, a spokesperson for the company said it is “disappointed that Mazars has chosen to part ways."
Two days after announcing a cybersecurity review of DiDi, China’s Cyberspace Administration ordered Chinese app stores to remove DiDi from the platforms entirely, claiming the company has severely violated regulations surrounding personal data. Regulators also requested that DiDi rectify all existing problems in line with national standards to protect personal data of DiDi’s many users.
On Friday, DiDi said it would fully cooperate with the government’s review. Aside from the suspension of new DiDi users, the company has insisted there will be no service interruptions for those already using the app. DiDi is not the only company to face tough crackdowns by Chinese regulators. Tencent, Alibaba, and JD.com are amongst others who have also been targeted. Action by the regulators aims to curb risk and prevent unfair labour practices.
The regulatory scrutiny surrounding DiDi follows its Wall Street debut, where the company raised $4.4 billion from investors in one of the biggest IPOs in recent memory. DiDi’s first day on the New York Stock Exchange drew to a close with a market capitalisation of approximately $75 billion, making the company’s president a new billionaire.
She's only the second African-American female broker in the Exchange's 226-year history. According to a 2017 study by Stanford University, men comprise 75% of the wealth management field and fill more than 80% of leadership roles.
Earlier this month Z/Yen published their global financial centres index which stated that for the first time in 15 years, New York has overtaken London as the world’s top financial centre. The report focused on a number of factors including infrastructure and reputation and was combined with a survey to show the most attractive financial cities. To follow on from this, job search platform Joblift looked into the financial job markets in both London and New York to find out if these results matched or contradicted the Z/Yen conclusions. While New York may have become the most attractive worldwide financial centre, Joblift’s results show that the crown still lies with London when it comes to job availability and growth.
London has more than twice the number of vacancies and three times as much job growth
According to Joblift, 124,788 financial job vacancies have been posted in London in the last 12 months. In comparison, New York has been the location of 49,526 financial vacancies in the same time period, around 2.5 times less than in the UK’s capital. To further bolster London’s claim as the financial job market top spot, vacancies in the capital have increased at three times the rate of New York’s. While the US city’s financial job market increased by 1% each month on average in the last 12 months, London’s market saw a 3% average rise.
Both cities share the most in-demand professions and top employers but vacancies in new york were more secure
Despite the differences in number of vacancies and job growth, the financial job markets in the two cities have a lot in common. Accountants are the most in-demand professionals in both cities, making up 12% of the job market in London, and 9% in New York. They are followed by Finance Managers in London (11%) and Economists in New York (6%), with these professions switching in each location as the third most in-demand – Economists in London (4%), and Finance Managers in New York (6%). Additionally, while not in the same ranking order, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were the top employers in both New York and London. However, while the same professions are in demand, jobs in New York were more secure. In the last year, 87% of the finance vacancies advertised in New York were for permanent contracts, while postings offering the same contract type in London made up just 75% of the capital’s financial market.
(Source: Joblift)
Why be content with almost $2 billion when your net worth can be multiples more simply by moving your company from one stock exchange to another?
Business travel has its own set of wonderful perks. An opportunity to get out of the office and see the world, corporate exploration allows you to do business in a brand-new city, as well as having some fun while you’re out there. But where are the best destinations in which to do business? Here, Irma Hunkeler at BlueGlass, brings you ten places for your consideration.
10. Instanbul
Instanbul, Turkey. Photo: Moyan Brenn/Flickr
It’s a cliche but it’s true: east meets west in Istanbul, and this is particularly true when it comes to business. The city has acted as a central connection point for companies from different ends of the globe, making it one of the world’s most diverse and thriving corporate destinations. It’s also a place full of beautiful ruins, amazing street food and fantastic people. Put your negotiation skills to the test with a haggle at a street market.
Main industries: Textile production, food, oil, electronics
Where to go: Hagia Sophia, Basilica Cistern, Aya Sofya
9. Frankfurt
Frankfurt, Germany Photo: Pixabay.com
Long known as a major city for aviation - it has one the largest airports in Europe - Frankfurt is also establishing itself as a place for a number of other industries. With Frankfurt the seat of the European Central Bank, the German city is of international importance when it comes to the European financial services industry. It’s also a fantastic place to come and do business in.
Main industries: Financial services, telecommunications, IT, biotech, creative services
Where to go: Stadel Museum, Kaiserdom, Frankfurt Stock Exchange
8. Hong Kong
Hong Kong Photo: Pixabay.com
Alongside London and New York, city-state Hong Kong is one the globe’s leading business destinations. A combination of the free flow of information and free market policies make it a place conducive to running successful businesses, so it’s not hard to see why so many companies have activities here. What’s more, Asia’s most popular city for international business is one of the least corrupt economies in the world.
Main industries: Financial services, trading, tourism, professional services
Where to go: Victoria PEak, Hong Kong Museum of History, street markets
7. Mexico City
Mexico City, Mexico Photo: Pixabay.com
The heart of the Americas is one of the most thriving corporate destinations in south America. Named as one of the world’s best start-up hubs, Mexico is known as a great place to do business, chiefly because of the city’s sociability. It’s an easy city in which to set up shop and get to know people, so it’s no surprise that companies from the US are starting to call Mexico home.
Main industries: Pharmaceuticals, technology, financial services, manufacturing
Where to go: National Museum of Anthropology, Chichen Itza, Palacio de Bellas Artes.
6. New York
New York City, US Photo: Pixabay.com
Where to start when it comes to the Big Apple? This metropolis is home to companies from every part of the globe. Almost every big name has a presence here, in some form or another. As well as established players, the city also has an emerging start-up scene. After a day spent hustling in Manhattan, head to one of New York’s world-class museums before seeing a Broadway show.
Main industries: Financial services, media, technology
Where to go: Central Park, Empire State Building, Museum of Modern Art
Click next to see our top 5 business destinations
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While Apple reportedly struggles to get the iPhone X off its feet and into the market, stumbling on obstacles it knew would come about, such as developing proper facial recognition and delivering on its aggressive production schedule, global stock markets are fluctuating on the back of several factors, from the disastrous hurricanes to bad European weather and Brexit talk. Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas are still ahead of us however.
Here Lee Wild, Head of Equity Strategy at Interactive Investor, provides an overview of the current global stock economy, as US markets and Japan’s Nikkei put London into perspective:
“The mood on many global stock markets might well be described as exuberant, but not irrational. Yes, it took less than six weeks for the Dow Jones to add the last 1,000 points to top 23,000, but latest US company quarterly earnings are beating expectations - look at IBM's fightback overnight - and president Trump's tax plans could still deliver a boost to the bottom line.
“Japan's Nikkei has just hit a two-decade high, but exports there have risen for a tenth straight month amid demand for Japanese technology.
“That puts what's happening in London into perspective. Investors are right to be concerned about a recent spate of high-profile profit warnings, and Brexit presents its own set of special circumstances, but many companies are delivering strong results and valuations are not excessive.
“Of course, the market will correct at some point. Chatter has picked up in recent weeks following profit warnings from blue-chips GKN, Mondi, ConvaTec and Merlin, but this bunch are not a fair indicator of the market as a whole.
“Unilever's highly-rated shares have come off the boil as bad weather affected sales of its Magnum and Ben & Jerry's ice creams in Europe during the third-quarter, while hurricanes in Florida and Texas held back the Americas. However, underlying sales in emerging markets still grew 6.3% and volumes were up. With just a few months of the financial year left, annual group underlying sales are still expected to grow 3-5% and profit margins improve.
“Don't be surprised to see a pullback between now and Christmas in some markets which have raced ahead this year, but it's unlikely to be the crash everyone is predicting. While inflation is currently outstripping wages growth, the UK unemployment rate is at its lowest since 1975 and any small rise in interest rates will not pull the rug from under this market.”
Blockchain will disrupt everything from Silicon Valley to the New York Stock Exchange.
PwC's head of research and analysis of fintech, Aaron Schwartz shares his views on what areas are more likely to attract investors' attention in the future. He talks to The Banker's Silvia Pavoni during Swift Business Forum New York.
