Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman is calling "Olly olly oxen free" to all the financial advisors still working from home.
But this is no game of hide and seek. And I find it baffling that Gorman is insisting his wealth management force come to the office, all suited up.
Not just every now and then. On average, he's asking them to appear four days a week with their shoes shined. Put another way, advisors can work from home a maximum of 90 days a year.
Gorman has been a fantastic leader, saving Morgan Stanley from the brink of disaster during the financial meltdown of 2008-09.
Columnist Charles Gasparino says Morgan Stanley believes this is the way to toe the line for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which is mulling new rules on working from home.
Gorman likes to talk about re-entering "careerland" vs. staying in "jobland." To build a career, he says you need to be in the office hobnobbing.
Maybe.
I suspect Gorman is nervous that WFH arrangements serve as training wheels for advisors in his 16,000-strong employee workforce who may want to go independent.
Wealth management is now at the center of Morgan Stanley's growth strategy for the next few years. That's why the firm spent $900 million in 2019 to buy global stock plan administration platform Solis Capital (now Shareworks), for instance, which it saw as feeding the future growth of this division.
WFH is an option many advisors — like many other professionals — have come to cherish during the pandemic. If they aren't part of the Great Resignation, many workers are enjoying the flexibility and freedom that WFH affords.
One of the great surprises of Covid quarantining has been that many people discovered a freedom that they didn't know they could have: the ability and power to work from anywhere.
In other words, what advisors do for clients is what truly matters — not their location.
Like other professionals, advisors appreciate so many other aspects of WFH, like more time with family, no tiresome commutes and dressing down all day.
One advisor told me that her gross production (or fees and commissions) has been up since the start of the pandemic.
This improvement isn't just due to the fact that she doesn't have to commute. It's also tied to the fact that "office life" is distracting. Water- cooler chat doesn't help her boost her gross very much.
