An estimated 90% of people working in finance say they now want the ability to work from home at least once a week after the pandemic.
Almost two-thirds of financial services employees (63%) are hoping for hybrid working following the pandemic according to research by Atlas Cloud.
The research revealed that through no longer commuting, financial services employees are working an additional 22 days when working from home and gaining the equivalent hours of 28 holiday days.
An estimated 90% of people working in finance say they now want the ability to work from home at least once a week after the pandemic.
This research comes following a FCA coronavirus financial resilience survey, which determined that 4,000 regulated firms across three key areas are deemed at risk following the pandemic.
In response to the FCA survey, the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) have expressed its concern.
Keith Richards, chief membership officer of the Chartered Insurance Institute, said: “I am surprised that there is no indication of a proactive plan to help mitigate possible failures during these unprecedented times.
“It is important to protect the interests of the consumers who may also be impacted as well as avoid further financial pressure being placed on the rest of the sector.”
Looking to the FCA’s survey, it detailed that between February and May/June, firms across the sectors experienced significant change in their total amount of liquidity.
This was defined as cash, committed facilities and other high-quality liquid assets.
When asked whether they expectedcoronavirusto have a negative impact on their net income, 59% of respondents had said that they did.
Of these, 72% expected the impact to be between 1% and 25%.
Meanwhile, 3% expected the impact to be 76%+ within the next three months of the survey being taken.
The institute believes that the industry must appreciate how well firms have done to weather successive storms of lockdowns, health and economic impacts.
Richards said: “The work our members have done in this period to maintain and even go beyond what they normally offer customers, should be commended.
“This survey was done before furlough was extended, which now gives employers financial support until the end of April and this time it can be taken flexibly.
“Firms can now furlough for as little as one day a week for example and this flexibility and guaranteed support could help firms bounce back better in coming weeks.
“At the time this survey was undertaken there were no vaccines in sight. The announcement of new vaccines has seen markets injected with a little optimism.
“The flip side to that however, is that it also took place before lockdown three which could cause greater damage, despite us feeling so close to an exit from measures to slow the spread of coronavirus.”
