Replace location with efficiency to hook hybrid work to growth

Hybrid work can support growth and stronger client relationships if firms intentionally pursue those outcomes.

With mask mandates being lifted from Manhattan to San Francisco, many are questioning what this shift means for the future of the workplace. Many jobs, however, particularly white-collar industries, have realized that remote work and a rethinking of a proper work-life balance are here to stay — and they are adapting to the shifting needs of their workers.

Two-thirds of employees in white-collar jobs reported working remotely either exclusively or some of the time in September 2021, according to Gallup. Additionally, an Indeed economist noted a 240% increase in job postings mentioning remote work.

One of the largest opportunities to leverage the evolution of work is in the financial industry, especially in the wealth management space.

Firms should seize this opportunity by combining what is great about traditional finance — the commitment to excellence and discipline to succeed in a competitive industry — with cutting-edge technology and realigned client-centric incentive structures.

Technology not only drives efficiency, but also leads to a better business model — with greater opportunity for advisers to build bigger books faster, earn more, and spend more time on what matters: their clients.

First, the ability to work from wherever you like, now a defining feature of the pandemic-era workplace, is here to stay. Embracing this freedom is a competitive advantage not just in hiring for the post-pandemic world, but also for business efficacy. Just as our employees are less constrained to major metro areas, our clients are also freer than before to live and work wherever they want. With technology allowing us to live and work in the places we want, the industry must begin to meet people and work seamlessly wherever they are.

Second, technology has advanced too far for finance employees, especially wealth managers, to spend significant time on low-value work that doesn’t lead to meaningful results for clients. The industry can — and must — replace outdated operational functions and needless red tape with cutting-edge technology and automation to simplify and streamline services, including account set-ups and money transfers. At Farther, we have cut adviser time on account opening and money movement from weeks to minutes — and doubled the time advisers can spend with clients.

Third, technology from Uber to Spotify is enabling greater user control in all aspects of life. When it comes to finance and wealth management, there is simply no reason to settle for a segmented, poorly designed user experience. Yet, too many are accustomed to juggling multiple financial accounts, with multiple user interfaces, and little interoperability between them. Technology can and should provide clients with a single, unified view of all their family’s financial holdings in one place and gives them access to a comprehensive wealth management team. The firms across industries that make investments to ensure the usability and appeal of technology are those that will remain most competitive.

It is slightly ironic that, when I think about change and the way the workplace is evolving, I recall a quote from Henry Ford: one of the men most responsible for implementing the now standard on-site, 9-to-5, Monday to Friday work week culture that dominates most industries. But Ford was also a visionary and a disrupter himself, and his words hold remarkably true today, as they did in his lifetime: “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”

Taylor Matthews is the CEO and co-founder of Farther.