The AltFi view on the future of work: Rumours of the death of the office are greatly exaggerated

Weekly Leading Article

As millions in Britain and around the world are vaccinated, its time for fintech CEOs to turn their attention to the future of work. 

After a hugely successful global WFH experiment, it’s clear that our romance with the office may be over for many fintechs.

Last week Revolut published its plan for the future of work at the startup unicorn—namely that the vast majority of its 2,000+ employees will be free to work flexibly indefinitely.

This stunning announcement is welcome news for the 98 per cent of Revolut’s employees who said they’d adapted well to remote work, the 90 per cent of its team leaders who said productivity remained strong, and the 86 per cent who said they were grateful to avoid the chaos of London commuting.

The last 12 months haven’t been universally positive, however. 

When Revolut asked its team about work/life balance, 40 per cent said they hadn’t seen any improvement—and many have likely seen that balance go the wrong way.

Indeed 65 per cent of Revolut’s employees still said they wanted the freedom to come to the office whenever they want, hence the fintech’s decision to set up Revolut Labs worldwide to offer a kind of co-working environment.

Most tech giants have an origin story rooted in some sort of dingy office basement with too few desks and late nights fuelled by pizza, beer and a desire to achieve ambitious goals. 

Perhaps we wouldn't have seen success stories like Revolut,Monzo or Starling Bank without that crucial first office camaraderie.

Offices for most people, though are a love/hate relationship. While many dreaded aspects of office life pre-pandemic, a year of homeworking has also reminded us what we also took for granted.

Regardless of where your company falls on the office/remote work spectrum, what’s most important right now is clarity and certainty for the tens of thousands of fintech employees who’ve remained remarkably productive over the last 12 months of disruption.

If you’ve not sorted what your company’s future work policy will be, then you’d better get a move on.

The AltFi Leader is a new weekly view for 2021 from our editorial team. We’d love to hear your ideas, thoughts, feedback and constructive criticism: editorial@altfi.com