Craig Peretz, Chief Financial Officer, Golden Eagle Strategies.

Future working 

How fund operators can manage in the new normal of hybrid office schedules, and remote working on top of a tight labour market were issues that have no silver bullet fix, said Craig Peretz Chief Financial Officer, Golden Eagle Strategies.

In Clear Path Analysis’s report, Fund Technology, Data & Operations, North America 2022, industry leaders from companies including Capco, Brown Brothers Harriman, and Pzena Investment Management explored ideas on how to get the best from staff in today’s unique working environment.

“I believe we are headed towards a hybrid model, which will depend upon the size of your firm and the firm’s strategy,” said Peretz. “As an emerging manager, we have five people across five different states, and we have no office. We meet as a team in person on a regular basis about once a quarter, but most of our primarily communication is done virtually.” He added the balance of this is that the five staff members are seasoned professionals. “We do not have junior staff members or interns. This is a viable solution right now, but there are a lot of factors you have to consider with executing this,” he added.

“The biggest issue that they are having right now is how they train new people. In dealing with a remote environment, one factor you have to think about as a manager is being more proactive.”

Peretz’s largely experience staff were an asset in this, but the idea of how could manage this with junior staff is a tricky issue. Especially apprenticeships, learning and other career progression goals in the hybrid or remote environment.

“The biggest issue that they are having right now is how they train new people. In dealing with a remote environment, one factor you have to think about as a manager is being more proactive.” According to EY, the corporate learning management system market is expected to grow by $12.5b between 2020 and 2024 meaning that many are concerned about this trend.

After a virtual call, he said, managers need to pick up the phone and talk to fellow team members, especially the juniors needing to be trained, and get their feedback. “The managers who are now on a remote workforce are going to have to take more of an initiative to make sure that the junior people can become middle level people as part of this process,” he said.

Remote working

For many companies, hiring in today’s environment means the decision of what to do if the best candidate for your job happens to be in a remote location is an important consideration. Do they include these candidates in the recruitment process if they are not going to be in the office?

“If you get someone who is remote, are you going to want them to travel and be with your team on a regular basis? What hours is that person going to be working remotely? If you are on the East Coast and they are on the West Coast, what hours are they working?”

This comes with both positives and negatives. A 2021 Accenture report says seven out of 10 workers at companies that embraced remote working claimed they would be more likely to recommend their company to a friend. But, Pwc said coaching and collaborative projects will become more of an issue.

Peretz sees both sides of an argument around looking at remote candidates. “The other side of the coin is that by being remote, it can expand your talent pool,” he says, but it also creates other areas to discuss. “If you get someone who is remote, are you going to want them to travel and be with your team on a regular basis? What hours is that person going to be working remotely? If you are on the East Coast and they are on the West Coast, what hours are they working?”

He says that as an operations person, he firmly believes that working hours are that of the portfolio manager and their team. “If they are trading in Europe, I am going to have operations people ready for them in case things break down five minutes before the market opens up,” he says. “This needs to be made very clear.”

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

 

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