Starling Bank bills itself as the UK’s first online only bank. But the company’s U-turn on its hybrid work policy, ordering staff back into offices, and running out of space has led to a wave of resignations.
The London-based bank is ordering its hybrid workers, who spend only a handful of days in the office each month, to come in at least 10 work days each month.
The only problem? Starling Bank’s offices in London, Cardiff and Southampton do not have enough space to accommodate the mandate. With more than 3,000 workers, Starling has approximately 900 desks across its locations. The Guardian Reported
Goldman Sachs-backed New Bank acknowledged the limitation in an email to staff, cited by the news outlet.
“We are looking at ways we can make more space,” the email said.
The mandate, which was intended to force people out of work-from-home setups, met with immediate backlash. Some staff members have reportedly already resigned, while others are worried about CEO Raman Bhatia’s move to slack channels.
By ordering more people into the office, Starling was “creating a gray corporate hellscape full of dead-eyed zombies who would do the bare minimum, clock out and collect paychecks,” a staff member said. Don’t care about anything else.” The Guardian Reported
Another person said that “being asked without warning to return to the office, the costs and life disruptions” prompted him to leave the company.
100% online bank @StarlingBank Those whose entire business is about working online now rely so little on tech that they want staff back in the office. If an online company doesn’t trust its staff and tech to do everything online, why should its customers trust its products? 🤔 https://t.co/Df8eH5mO4e
— Tagg (@TeemuTagg) November 19, 2024
But Starling Bank’s Bhatia says the mandate had been in the works for months, and was “surprised” by the response from staff.
“Starling recently formalized a long-standing practice of encouraging associates to work in their local office two to three days a week,” a bank spokesperson said. good luck.
“People managers are able to provide additional support to colleagues with fitness and other personal needs. Those who are fully remote or with flexible arrangements are already on those terms.
The move comes just weeks after Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority fined Starling Bank £29 million for “shockingly lax” screening processes that left the entire system open to criminals. is in danger.
Will the WFH war ever end?
The back-to-work mandate has become a tug-of-war between shift-resistant employees and bosses as the cure for collaboration, productivity and office culture. For example, when Amazon’s Andy Jessee required staff to come into the office every day or leave the company, he forced employees to “apply their anger” to new jobs.
Bolt, an Uber competitor, is calling its staff back to the office because they are “disengaging” from the office setting by working from abroad. Spanish bank Santander also recently expanded its RTO mandate, as mandated by Starling.
Employees are not fully on board – this has led to court cases and new legislation to support flexible working, but employees now have legal recourse when ordered to return to work. There are also some options.
Demand for office space itself is also changing. Commercial real estate firm JLL found that almost half of clients in markets including the UK, Germany and France are looking to downsize their office space as fewer people come into the office.
Still, Europe outperforms the US in terms of office attendance, thanks to better public transport and urban layout.
CBRE’s head of European office research, Richard Holburton, told Bloomberg in July that “offices are becoming more dynamic and, while many see current levels of use as stable, 30% of companies expect further growth.”
“The general acceptance of hybrid working is widespread, but the challenge is to meet the expectations of employers with the longer tenure of their employees.”
