Tara McCloskey, Managing Director, MetLife Investment Management.

Hybrid working

After two years of Zoom and Ms Teams calls, returning to the office has proved tricky for some companies, says Tara McCloskey, Managing Director, Global Head of Derivative and Lending Operations and Head of Oversight and Strategy, MetLife Investment Management. To compensate for the ways things have changed, new norms must be adopted.

Clear Path Analysis’s October 2022 report, “The Post-Pandemic Office: Operations, Technology, Outsourcing & Managed Services in the Investment Management Industry”, covers these issues with industry leaders at companies such as abrdn, SS&C | Advent, Mackay Shields LLC, and MetLife. 

"“In terms of how our office and what our community looks like, in the investment management space, there was not a tonne of flexibility pre-pandemic."

McCloskey, who was responsible for MetLife’s facilities and return to office, said this area was something she was passionate about because it had the ability to make or break a team’s cohesion and improve or lessen their output.

“In terms of how our office and what our community looks like, in the investment management space, there was not a tonne of flexibility pre-pandemic,” she said about MetLife Investment Management’s (MIM’s) previous, more rigid, way of working. “MIM tried to be thoughtful about coming back to the office, what it would look like, staffing issues, and we tried to make sure that our employees had this flexibility.” 

She said the company wanted to offer something comparable to their peers in terms of an office experience that would draw employees back in and make the office seem worthwhile again. It was beneficial, she found, to showcase areas that were conducive to colleague interaction and collaboration. “We moved into a new building four years ago and had a very collaborative space with a lot of team rooms and an open floor plan, so we already had this available. We implemented a hybrid work environment when we came back, and people are generally coming in three days per week.”

“We quickly realised that there wasn’t much benefit to having two or three people sitting on the floor not collaborating with their peers.”

McCloskey explained that the way MIM approached the process – especially with her own team – was having daily coverage in the office and a skeleton staff on Mondays and Fridays. “We quickly realised that there wasn’t much benefit to having two or three people sitting on the floor not collaborating with their peers,” she said. Evidence supporting this finding is present in business areas where employees have not had the collaborative benefit of returning to the office. 

The idea of making the office experience worthwhile is universal, however, many companies have struggled to convince employees that it is necessary. A study by The Harvard Business Review found that the ideal hybrid work schedule is just one or two days in the office per week. This meant that employees made decisions based on whether the camaraderie and resources available in-office justified the effort, time, and cost to commute.

The positives of office culture 

McCloskey, like other successful adapters, convinced her staff by showing them how the social and collaborative side of in-office work benefits the team. “This [new hybrid system] meant that we went from having one team day to two team days where everyone is in the office on the same days. These are the days where we try to have all our team meetings, collaborative sessions and training, and the other days are more centred around individualised work.” 

"I see our analysts having lunch together in our canteen. It warms my heart that they can have this experience of working together and building a community, making friends, and building a network.”

This sentiment was a common theme throughout many offices as the benefits of homeworking – being undisturbed for tasks that require extended bouts of concentration or solitary reading, for example — become evident. Considerations like avoiding Zoom fatigue mean, on the other hand, scheduling important meetings for in-office days. 

“This is really how I plan my days at home, thinking about quiet times when I can get through reading,” she said. “In the office, I often see big tables of our analysts having lunch together in our canteen or shared spaces. It warms my heart that they can have this experience of working together and building a community, making friends, and building a network.” 

To read the interview in full, and see more from the report, please click here. 

 

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