James Tobin, Head of Asset Management Practice at RED10, focuses on roles across the full tech functional skillset within the industry. As an established professional with years of experience, he is answering 4 valuable questions about the current climate, recruitment and the asset management industry.
1. How do you think ways of working will change in the coming months in the investment management industry?
We have found many of our Asset Management clients, who have a heavily web-based, modern IT set up, which has had a positive feedback from their now home-based staff.
Currently, there are talks in making particular roles becoming permanently home-based, with a possible day a week in the office. The roles have mostly been heavily IT based, such as IT Support, Developers, Network Engineers and Architects. As for the more business-facing roles, such as Project Managers and Business Analysts, the feedback so far is that these roles will most likely stay in-house to allow constant engagement with the business.
Companies with legacy IT set up will need to adapt to allow more flexibility for their workforce.
2. What are the hiring trends we should be expecting over the next 6-12 months?
With regards to the interview and hiring processes, the initial reaction to the COVID-19 economic impacts was to suspend all recruitment. Since May, we are finding more and more of our clients gain the confidence to interview and hire remotely.
I would expect to see a mixture of our clients continuing with remote hiring, especially for roles sitting within IT. Also, some companies might be opting to try and shift back to traditional face-to-face interviews for heavily business-facing roles, when it is safe to do so.
Onboarding processes will continue to adapt and accommodate remote working.
3. What discussions do you hear about office spaces?
With most of their workforce working from home for the past last months, Asset Management companies are reconsidering their office space as a way of reducing their operating costs.
Clients have several considerations at the moment. Firstly, how many people are essential to be in the office and how many could work from home reducing the need for large office space. Also, the location of the office is another hot topic. Renting offices in London is at a much higher cost than other locations. Companies are re-evaluating if having an office in London is necessary. An option that is being discussed is to have offices in the outskirts and only travel to London or clients’ locations when necessary.
4. Do you think we will see outsourcing more frequent?
Yes, there is a possibility companies will consider either outsource services on or nearshore or seek talent abroad. With companies feeling more comfortable with remote working and investing in modern IT set up, it is likely to see this trend more often. At RED10, we are helping both clients and candidates to fill or find suitable roles in countries beyond the UK, and we believe we will see this more often.
Also, a part of the UK workforce might consider moving abroad depending on COVID-19 updates, travelling restrictions to London and work availability.