Lisa Newey, Partner at Massey Henry, was recently featured in HR Brew’s recent article, “Employer uses top-down strategy to get employees in the office.”
The article explores how organizations are reshaping executive hiring by demanding greater strategic insights and culturally aligned leadership. In response, executive search firms are evolving their approaches to address the growing complexities of modern executive recruitment, especially in financial services.
HR Brew — part of Morning Brew — delivers insightful updates on recruiting, retention, and company culture to help people leaders stay ahead in a fast-changing business world.
Click here to read the full article. An excerpt from the feature is provided below.
A five-day return-to-office mandate for senior managers can be a subtle strategy to “pull rather than push” more employees to work in the office. By getting the managers in, the idea is that others would follow. Rather than forcing people back…the inclination, if their manager is in, is to also appear at the office.
This is a trickle-down strategy. While many companies have a five-day RTO mandate, especially in financial services, this approach is an opportunity for managers to encourage employees directly to work in person.
In order to encourage other staff to come in, particularly on Fridays, which is one of the days that is quietest, [one of my clients] offers to take anyone who’s there out to lunch. He is offering a carrot rather than a stick.
While companies implementing this strategy cite collaboration as a motivator for the return, having employees work in the office doesn’t automatically lead to increased collaboration, connection, or innovation.
HR pros should not to immediately follow a stricter RTO plan without considering how strongly employees rely on flexibility in the workplace, and if your employees need to be in person to do their best work.
Five-day RTOs are not necessarily something that would work for all companies, but I think striking a balance between flexibility and being in together, whether that’s drawn because the boss is there or not, is probably not a bad thing to consider.
About Massey Henry
Massey Henry was created to bring a fresh approach to the traditional field of executive recruitment. Our process is specialized to identify financial services executives and is transparent for clients and candidates alike. Our Partners bring more than 60 years of combined experience in the financial services and executive search industries. We have supported clients across the full spectrum of financial services, including: Retail and commercial banking; Insurance and Reinsurance; Asset management; Capital markets; Wealth management; Credit Unions; Private equity; FinTech; Payments; and Corporate and Investment Banking. Learn more about how our team can support your executive search needs.
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