MeterFinancial institutions in London are using free lunches and ice cream to lure their bankers back to their offices. And it seems to have worked: the city hasn’t been as busy as it has been in the past few days for a long time. In the financial district of Canary Wharf, people poured into skyscrapers from the subway, and hordes of office workers poured into public places to enjoy the September sunshine. Ian Williams of Peel Hunt, an investment bank, said: “It feels like everything is back to normal after the summer vacation.” For the first time since the pandemic broke out in early 2020, he has worked in an office. The British government lifted almost all corona restrictions in England in July.
The Transport for London Authority announced this week that this is the busiest day since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020. The operator of Canary Wharf in the financial district announced that more things are happening now than they have been in a year and a half.The numbers speak for themselves: at the bank Standard Chartered Bank Approximately 33% of employees were in the office that week, down from 20% the previous week and some during the lockdown period. The fact that the board provides food to bankers may help.
In Germany, many people still work from home
At Goldman Sachs, approximately 3,000 investment bankers in the Plumtree Court office can enjoy a few scoops of free ice cream. This brought the U.S. bank’s utilization rate to 50%-well above the peak of the pandemic and lockdown, when sometimes only a few hundred bankers entered the city center.The largest bank in Europe HSBC Bank At the headquarters in Canary Wharf, about 1,800 people have been working in recent months instead of 1,000 to 1,500 bankers.
British boss Ian Stewart said that HSBC bankers are not rewarded because the 10,000 employees of the branch are not rewarded and they must always be there during the lockdown. “We are trying to effectively communicate that the office is safe. The first obstacle is to get people to come in and try, and then more and more people will come in.”
In this country, this reluctance is even greater than in the UK, because many restrictions in daily life are still in effect. Although the home office rule no longer applies since July 1, many people still work from home. At Deutsche Bank, it accounts for approximately 75% in Germany and 65% to 70% of the 85,000 employees worldwide.Deutsche Bank boss Christian sewing It has been emphasized many times that its goal is to adopt a mixed work model after the pandemic. Other institutions are also adapting to the new situation. According to Bloomberg, Bestman Bank is building its own TV studio so that employees and customers can stay at home more after the pandemic.
6.30 am on weekdays
But the London bankers are not sure whether to return to their offices. “Suddenly squeezed into a fully loaded train again, and not everyone is wearing a mask, it feels a bit crazy,” the banker Rob told a Reuters reporter on the subway heading towards the City of London. “But honestly, I have had enough of sitting at home.” More and more traders and investment bankers work from home Fetched. The business of stocks, bonds, and commodities trading thrived in loud and fast shouts; agreements reached through chat and phone calls were too slow and cumbersome.
In addition to free lunch and ice cream, financial companies also prepared other things for their returning employees. For example, the insurance company Phoenix organizes secure “social events” and distributes colorful keyrings with imprints such as “I keep my distance” and “I agree to high-five.”
