Staffing & Culture | 04.23.25

Bank Advisors Can't Work From Home — Or Can They?

by: Rich Blake

Defending his "work-from-office" policy during a talk at Stanford University in March, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon emphasized culture-building benefits and the educational upside of working in person.

"Virtual work doesn't work in our business," he insisted.

For the advisory teams at banks and credit unions, Dimon’s sentiment is well-understood — it’s underscored by a prevailing business model seeking to leverage foot traffic in the physical branches. At the same time, an increasing number of financial advisors and registered representatives, particularly younger ones, are as keen as ever to at least work a couple of days at home.

Trends and times are changing fast. It’s no secret that new advisors are in short supply. Flexibility and creativity will be paramount as team leaders set out to recruit the best and brightest candidates and also effectively serve a wide variety of clients — at least some of whom are happy to interact virtually.

In-Person Still Preferred

"Most credit union members have happily moved to self-service channels for basic transactions, but for complicated activities, most members still prefer to work with an employee," said Caroline Vahrenkamp, advisory services director at Filene Research Institute, which focuses on helping credit unions innovate.

While physical branches still have enormous value to credit union members and for credit unions overall, Filene has found, via a survey of 5,000 members conducted at the end of 2023, a nuanced picture of customer preferences. For example, when it comes to making a new investment, or managing an existing investment, the slight majority of respondents (51%) said they liked to do it themselves.

Which brings us to employee preferences: it seems that, to attract Gen Z and Millennial talent, advisory firms are (partly) disregarding the head of the biggest bank in the country.

Hybrid Model Takes Hold

"The majority of our employees follow a hybrid model, working 1-2 days at home," said Carol Sheffield, chief compliance officer at Per Sterling Capital Management, in InvestmentNews’ recent "Best Places to Work for Financial Advisors" roundup.

Flexibility with respect to in-person work, allowing for team members to work remotely, was a common thread in terms of firms receiving high marks from advisory staffers, InvestmentNews found.

"Advisory firms must offer flexibility," said IFG, an Atlanta-based firm focused on recruiting the next generation of financial planners.

Something else to consider: foot traffic is waning. These days, per HTG, more than three-fourths of bank customers prefer mobile banking. In some instances, foot traffic does not lead to as many referral leads as one might expect, according to one New York City bank advisor, asking to remain anonymous (and eager to work from home at least two days per week). "Most of the people who still come into the bank in person are here because they have a problem and are in no mood to talk to about opening an IRA," he said. "The in person model becoming slightly outdated. More people are comfortable doing things by phone or, need be, video call."

It’s not just about younger or older demographics. Filene's survey divided respondents into groups based on their behavioral type.

Shopping For Solutions

About one-fifth of credit union members are financially secure, value in-person connections, but aren’t necessarily looking for financial advice. They just like coming in. This group has been dubbed "comfortable community-seekers."

Another 12% of the credit union universe is described as "enterprising experts;" this group is tech savvy, and also financially secure, and aren’t in the market for advice either.

The group most likely to use a financial advisor is dubbed the "solution-oriented shopper." This sub-segment represents 23% of the credit union members surveyed. As it happens, this group prefers self-service versus employee-assisted service, but only slightly more. Among the segment, a small but meaningful fraction (10%), said that they prefer dealing with a credit union employee by phone.

"They appreciate expert advice and recommendations for their investments," Vahrenkamp said. "But they also value the convenience of managing those investments online on their own schedule."

Kara O'Keefe, a spokeswoman for TruStage, a provider of wealth management services to credit unions, confirms that their advisors mostly work full time in the branches.

"Although, when and if needed, we have been able to prove that advisors can be productive and consumers are receptive to a remote type of engagement with their advisor," O'Keefe said.

Advisors do clearly benefit from being physically at branches, working with staff to identify referrals, she explained.

That said, often enough this activity includes the credit union call center staffers who are not physically present. Additionally, TruStage hosts virtual seminars to reach more credit union members who don’t normally come into branches.

JPMorgan Chase, as it turns out, has opened new East Coast call centers staffed by some remote workers. It's a small percentage, relatively. But those who do this work from home have indeed proven themselves to be effective.

Even Jamie Dimon concedes that much.