The Great Resignation is turning into a great myth for one Wall Street bank. Morgan Stanley chief James Gorman says the firm has seen relatively few departures in the wake of the pandemic, and certainly nothing like the trend that’s seen U.S. workers quitting their jobs in record numbers. In contrast, he says the bank received about 500,000 job applications last year.
Together with a tightening economy that will make job-hopping even harder, that’s further emboldened him to champion a return to regular office life.
“At the end of the day, people have to work somewhere,” Gorman said at the Australian Financial Review Business Summit in Sydney on Tuesday. “If the economy turns south a little bit, I think you’ll see much less job mobility than in the last 12 months.”
Around the world, the pandemic has forced millions of people rethink how they work and live — and how to better balance the two. More than 24 million U.S. workers quit their jobs from April to September last year — and many are staying out of the labor force. Germany, Japan, and other wealthy nations have seen shades of the same trend.
Gorman said that anyone going to a restaurant should also be showing up to the office, reiterating comments that he made last year. They mirror those of his counterparts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., who’ve made banking one of the most aggressive among white-collar industries in driving a return to the office.
“A lot of us have gone into the mindset of ‘Jobland,’ said Gorman. “Well if you’re in ‘Careerland,’ you need to be around other people to learn from them a bit.”
Gorman said his main concern wasn’t that workers were slacking off at home, but that they wouldn’t develop career skills without being around “other human beings and how they deal with sensitivities that you can’t get from a screen.”
“My job running a company is to make sure that we train and develop our employees as professionals to do the job we need them to do,” Gorman said.
From outstanding individuals to innovative organizations, find out who made the final shortlist for top honors at the IN awards, now in its second year.
Cresset's Susie Cranston is expecting an economic recession, but says her $65 billion RIA sees "great opportunity" to keep investing in a down market.
“There’s a big pull to alternative investments right now because of volatility of the stock market,” Kevin Gannon, CEO of Robert A. Stanger & Co., said.
Sellers shift focus: It's not about succession anymore.
Platform being adopted by independent-minded advisors who see insurance as a core pillar of their business.
RIAs face rising regulatory pressure in 2025. Forward-looking firms are responding with embedded technology, not more paperwork.
As inheritances are set to reshape client portfolios and next-gen heirs demand digital-first experiences, firms are retooling their wealth tech stacks and succession models in real time.
