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* Major banks eye September office return for thousands of
staff
* Employer offerings include Friday night drinks, car/bike
parking
* Some banks taking advice on pandemic-proofing office hubs
By Sinead Cruise
LONDON, July 30 (Reuters) - Investment banks in London are
trying to tempt more staff into the office, laying on free food,
Friday night drinks and other perks to lure bankers back where
they can pass skills to others -- and compliance departments can
keep a closer eye on them.
Mass remote-working has been largely successful for many
financial firms, improving communications and sparing staff from
long commutes during a near-global coronavirus lockdown. But
some firms are keen to reunite teams after the hiatus.
In public, they tend to cite the importance of building
teams, boosting morale and mentoring junior staff.
"Relationship building and developing a knowledge base are
important for new associates and others, and that's easier in
the office," said Ram Nayak, Deutsche Bank's global
head of fixed income and currencies.
Three banking sources said having staff on site also makes
it easier to reduce compliance risks, and helps managers gauge
individual output in the final quarter when bonuses are tallied.
Working from home could even bring new dangers: Britain's
FICC Financial Markets Standard Board this week published a
best-practice guide to handling conduct risks such as trading
errors, domestic violence, and substance or alcohol abuse.
As part of its return-to-work process, Goldman Sachs
is offering to feed staff at the headquarters of its
international business in London, where just a handful of nearby
food outlets have reopened.
Around 40% of the 6,000 staff who work at its Plumtree Court
building - which boasts onsite childcare and a medical centre -
have returned to the office at some point since June, with
10-15% present on any given day, two sources said.
Staff have also been able to relax on its rooftop garden or
take classes at its fitness centre, which reopened on Monday.
TRACKING TRADERS
UBS is treating its London-based traders to Friday
night drinks to boost team spirit during its gradual return to
the office, another two sources said.
But the steps are still small, and many bankers are likely
to be working in their pyjamas for months more at least.
Around 70,000 of Barclays' 88,000 global workforce
have worked from home during the pandemic and just 700 are
timetabled to return to workplaces across Britain, India and the
United States in July and August. The remainder will work
remotely until at least end-September, a spokesman said.
Chief Executive Jes Staley, who had said in April he felt
packing thousands of staff into city-centre offices could become
"a thing of the past", this week told reporters he wanted to see
his staff back together.
A handful of HSBC's investment bankers have
returned to its UK headquarters, but no date has been set for
the 'first phase' of a mass-return, two additional sources said.
The 'first phase' will see fewer than 20% of colleagues
return to each office. In some buildings, maintaining social
distancing means the returning number will be far less than 20%.
Deutsche's Nayak said trading floors would return slowly.
The bank has asked a small proportion of London-based staff to
return in September after a first wave of employees returned
this month, according to a July 14 staff memo.
UK state-backed NatWest Group has told its
50,000-strong workforce the "vast majority" can work remotely
until 2021. Lloyds Banking Group said it wanted
staffers to return in the fourth quarter, assuming it was safe
to do so.
PANDEMIC-PROOFING
Some banks are striving to ensure their offices are better
protected against pandemics in the long-term.
"With people spending up to 90% of their time indoors,
there's an urgent need to re-engineer indoor spaces to create
workplaces that are productive and safe," said Liviu Tudor,
founder of Genesis Property, who is advising banks including
Societe Generale on "immunising" their offices.
A SocGen spokeswoman described its enhanced measures as
"progressive, agile and reversible" and said they could be
adapted as the pandemic evolves.
Pandemic-proofing offices could cost up to 2% of a
building's total construction cost, Tudor estimated. This could
include installing quarantine rooms, disinfectant UV lighting,
upgraded air filtering systems, thermal scanners and even
repainting walls with anti-microbial paint.
Employee union Unite, which represents thousands of bank
staff, said on Wednesday it would intervene if it felt bosses
could do more to ensure safety.
Canary Wharf Group (CWG), which manages Britain's second
financial hub to the east of the City, is providing more parking
for cars and bikes for workers nervous about crowded transit.
Footfall in its shopping malls was "growing steadily" but it
was "time for the rest of the businesses at Canary Wharf to come
back", said CWG Executive Chairman George Iacobescu.
But the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment said
on Wednesday only 25% of members expected to return to the
office for the same number of working days as before.
"We've watched these mega dealing rooms grow - that doesn't
work with social distancing," said one senior asset manager,
forecasting occupancy of just 40% and 25% in his firm's two
offices. "The cult of the dealing room is probably dead."
(Additional reporting by Carolyn Cohn, Karin Strohecker, Iain
Withers and Lawrence White in London and Tom Sims and Patricia
Uhlig in Frankfurt
Editing by Rachel Armstrong and Peter Graff)
