Latest Report From Scoop Finds that 80% of FinTech Companies are Fully Flexible Compared to 20% of Financial Services Firms

Flex Index finds that the way work happens in Finance has implications that reach far beyond the financial districts

SAN FRANCISCO, March 7, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Today, Scoop, the company enabling employees to plan great in-office days effortlessly, releases The Flex Report - Financial Services Deep Dive, fast on the heels of its inaugural Flex Index* report. Citing data from the Flex Index – the world's most robust source on company in-office requirements – this report highlights trends in banking and beyond, anchoring one of the loudest conversations around office mandates in unprecedented data. Do Wall Street or Silicon Valley have more sway on trends? What does it all mean for the Financial Districts that anchor many American downtowns?

With big banks ranking among the high-paying public companies that set trends, what we see in Financial Services can have implications beyond work and have long-tail impacts on other industries as the fight for top talent continues. This is the kind of analysis that can now be anchored in quantitative data, with the new Flex Index's comprehensive insights from over 4,000 companies and 25,000 office locations that collectively employ more than 100 million people.

"Many people might assume that FinTech is the only place to find work location flexibility in Financial Services. And while FinTech certainly leads on flexibility, there is a big disconnect between the average person's perspective and what's actually happening," said Rob Sadow, CEO of Scoop and creator of the Flex Index.

"Even if you sort out FinTech, the vast majority of firms from other Finance subsectors offer some amount of work location flexibility. My biggest curiosity is what will happen with talent flow over time. Even if employee attrition becomes muted slightly because of the macroeconomic environment, my instinct is that over the years FinTechs and more flexible traditional Financial Services firms will use flexibility as a wedge against the fully onsite big banks -- and that flexibility will continue to be a lever deployed to accelerate change in industries."

Flexibility is the second most important criterion for job seekers after compensation, and its impact reaches far beyond individuals' work choices.

Key Findings and Considerations From The Flex Report - Financial Services Deep Dive

• The Valley is Louder than the Big Banks - and it's Felt on the Ground: Nearly 80 percent of FinTech companies are fully flexible, demonstrating that the tech-led industries reign when it comes to flexibility. And while Jamie Dimon caused a stir with his full-time in-office mandate for JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), only 20 percent of Financial Services companies are fully on site. With the majority favoring Structured Hybrid policies, the real estate impacts are significant; Manhattan is losing $12 billion a year to remote work and the future is uncertain for other legacy East Coast metros as office demands decline.
• How the West Was Won (or is at Least Winning): When the US is divided into four regions (East, Midwest, South, and West), the West is most flexible, with 46 percent of companies headquartered in the West categorized as Fully Flexible compared to just 23 percent in the Northeast. The West still leads on flexibility even when FinTech companies are removed.
• Closing the Gender Gap in Finance (and Beyond): While Jamie Dimon called for employees to return to the office, Citigroup's Jane Fraser claimed being full-time in the office is "largely unnecessary today." And as noted by theSkimm co-founders and co-CEOs Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg, "While the need for remote and flexible options is not a new concept, in the past, it's been women who have needed or requested the option to work from home due to childcare and caregiving responsibilities that historically fall on them. Offering solutions to all employees creates a culture that takes away from the stigma women face because remote work is the only option for them."
• Employers Can Hit Above Their Weight: Companies with less than 250 employees offer more work location flexibility than their counterparts and are nearly 3X as likely to be Fully Flexible. For hiring managers at smaller companies, the benefits of remote work can be significant - not only in the savings on office costs, but as a competitive advantage when hiring. As Remote Works co-author Ali Greene notes, "While there are constraints for certain in-person roles across industries, looking at best practices of remote-ready industries can introduce some learning opportunities that can be adjusted accordingly."

*Launched last month, the Flex Index provides insights from over 4,000 companies and 25,000 office locations that collectively employ more than 100 million people. With insight into company-by-company trends across numerous axes — including location, size, industry, and more — now anyone can uncover companies' workplace flexibility policies in a single, comprehensive place.

Methodology                     
Company office requirements are generated through a combination of online survey and manual entry of publicly available information. All surveys must be submitted by an employee of the company with an accompanying work email address to verify their employment. All surveys contributing to this Flex Report were conducted between October 2022 and February 2023. Once a company is incorporated into the Flex Index, company representatives are contacted to inform them of their inclusion. Companies can add or update their information on the Flex Index at any time.

Company office requirements reflect the most common office requirements for corporate employees. Companies can add detail to their company page to reflect job functions, roles, or geographies where there are different office requirements from the corporate policy. This includes opportunities for fully remote work, roles that are required to be fully on-site, or other hybrid work arrangements.        

Our partner People Data Labs provides the data on top employment locations for each company on the Flex Index. This data is used to inform state and metro flexibility analysis.

About Scoop
Scoop is the fastest way to plan your next great office day. With Scoop, employees get more out of going in, with easily scheduled in-office days and invites. For HR and workplace leaders, Scoop provides insights on work location trends, office usage, and additional workplace solutions to get the most out of hybrid work.

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Scoop is a privately-held company with the backing of prominent investors including Haystack Ventures, Audacious Ventures, G2 Venture Partners, Activate Capital, BNP Paribas, and select angel investors.

Media Contact

Binta Rathod, Scoop, (804)-314-6269, [email protected]

SOURCE Scoop