"Bank CEOs have lost touch with employees' working lives"
It's becoming a thing for some of the most powerful men in finance to call employees back to the office.
In demanding that employees return to office buildings, CEOs are demonstrating the extent to which they're out of touch with employees' working lives.
CEOs are good business managers, but over time they forget what it's like when you're not at the top of the tree. - When your family and children need you at home because you can't afford the help.
When you're the CEO of a global bank, you get a car and driver. You don't take the subway. You don't commute in from outside the city. And when you've been CEO for years, you forget that this is the reality for most people.
When you're CEO, you also get a private office that's bigger than most of the apartments occupied by employees in New York City. Social distancing isn't an issue.
You'll also get a staff of servants, sorry, "assistants," who cater to your every need. If you want, you don't have to leave your private suite for anything during your work day, including eating or going to the men's room. And you are protected by multiple layers of security.
Senior finance professionals who forget that life isn't like this for other employees risk looking heartless in the COVID pandemic. People have real human concerns and it's not a good look to shout "bah humbug" whenever they're raised. We're all mortal. Leaders should reflect that more than anyone.
Scott Brown is the pseudonym of someone with three decades' experience on Wall Street
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