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Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, work life has shifted dramatically for many Americans. To find out more about how the pandemic has specifically impacted investment managers, Callan, one of the largest independently owned investment consulting firms in the U.S., surveyed over 100 investment managers regarding how their firms were responding to the pandemic. The study received 108 responses from a wide variety of firms by location, employee size, assets under management, and ownership structure.

So how are investment managers navigating through the pandemic? The Callan survey shed some light on what firms are doing in regards to office closures and reopenings, work-from-home approaches, business travel, and meetings. 

The office

As far as work environments go, the report showed that offices remain closed for 84% of the respondents, with the vast majority of employees working remotely across essentially all firms.

However, an interesting finding in the study was that a greater percentage of smaller firms – those with less than $50bn in assets under management – kept their offices open relative to larger firms. But across the board, including with those with open offices, 97% of respondents said they were still banning outside visitors.

Even with the majority of firm offices currently closed, the poll showed that most firms remain optimistic about reopening this year. The study indicated that around 60% of respondents had a specified reopening date, with half of those noting July or earlier and 96% indicating they planned to reopen by mid-September. This projected reopening date was different based on the size of the firm, with smaller firms shooting for the earlier July date. 

Not too surprising, something that wasn't different between firm size–and even location in the U.S.–was the finding that the vast majority of employees were working remotely across essentially all firms. In fact, 87% of those surveyed said that a minimum of 90% of employees were working from home, and only 2% of managers said that less than 50% of employees were working from home. Per the study, only a few smaller, employee-owned firms continued to work in the office, where they have been able to practice social distancing.

The report also looked to see if this would change the working landscape for the long term. And the numbers showed that it may do so in some respect. Just over half of the respondents anticipated that some employees will work permanently from home, with the majority of those noting that one-third or fewer employees will have this arrangement. In addition, asset size, ownership, or location did not appear to influence a clear trend in permanent work-from-home arrangements.

Meetings and travel

One of the side effects of the pandemic, according to the survey, was the increase of the number of meetings. In fact, nearly two-thirds of respondents said the number of meetings they had in May either increased or stayed the same. In addition, nearly 50% of respondents conducted at least 80% of these meetings with clients and consultants via video conference. This trend held true across firms by asset size, ownership structure, or location.

And as far as travel goes, 47% of the respondents provided an anticipated date for resumption of travel, with the majority of those targeting Sept. 8 or earlier. Only 10% said they will not resume business travel until January.

But for the majority of respondents, the date to resume travel was still uncertain. And nearly half of the respondents that were uncertain about resuming business travel hailed from the Northeast, in particular.

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