The FCA had another awkward townhall about returning to the office

As we reported here and here earlier this month, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) wants its people to return to the office for at least 50% of the time from September 2026 (60% for executive directors). The FCA's people are, however, used to working from home for 60% of their time and do not want to come back.

Today we understand that senior management at the FCA ran another townhall trying to persuade recalcitrant employees that it has everyone's best interests at heart. 

Insiders say that the townhall did not go well and claim that the internal message board was instead deluged with comments like those we have extracted below. The survey referred to is an internal FCA survey on remote work, which we understand unearthed overwhelming employee support for home working.

• "In light of the recent hybrid working announcement, which is expected to increase costs for employees, combined with the current low pay offer, are there any plans to provide additional support to staff in managing these increased financial pressures?"
• "Many staff will not be getting a pay rise in line with inflation, and given office attendance will be rising by 25%, why are staff being rewarded for an excellent year with a real-terms pay cut?"
• "Can you explain why the maximum level for each pay range (except Directors) has not increased this year? The consequence is that pay ranges have been narrowed, pushing more people to the high end of the range or onto maintained pay."

• "What benefits of attending the office at 50% cannot be achieved at 40%?"

  "When you mention there being “very mixed views”, are you referring to staff views, given the staff survey found the overwhelming majority wanted to keep office time the same or reduce it?"

• "Conceptually, a month has around 20 business days. At 50%, this equates to 10 days per month or 30 days over three months. However, not all months have the same number of business days. If there are 61 business days in a three-month period and someone attends 30 days (49.12%), are they required to attend an extra day to reach 50%?"
•  "Did senior leadership consider graduating required office attendance by grade (for example, lower grades at 40%, managers at 50%, senior leadership at 60%) to reflect commuting costs relative to salary? If so, why was this approach discounted?"
• "As a data-led organisation, why was the data provided by the CRF report ignored in favour of non-forensic “senior leadership judgement” when making the hybrid working decision?"

The complaints are unlikely to make much difference. A spokesperson for the FCA said she was disappointed that they have been made public . She added that: “We recognise that there is a range of views amongst colleagues on the increase to office attendance and many are understandably concerned about the impact on them. Our leadership team are engaging with colleagues on these concerns, including an hour’s Townhall today."

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