Conference Presentation, Panel
Lessons Learned: Mitigating the Next Crisis
Milken InstituteAndy Serwer, Tom Finke, Penny Pennington, Emmanuel Roman, Manny Roman, Claude Grunitzky
- Human relationships are expected to retain heightened importance, though client risk appetites and financial goals are anticipated to shift due to changes in family, job, and income stability over the future.
- Client priorities have reordered to prioritize physical health, emotional well-being, and financial resilience, with 7 million clients seeking counselor guidance on these topics first.
- Organizational plans include dialing up resources for holistic well-being and attaching trusted external resources to client-facing websites, while a five-part commitment to racial diversity, equity, and inclusion aims to create a broader place of belonging.
- Rapid transformation is forecasted, compressing five-year expectations into six months, with a projected need for massive technology investment to maintain agility and answer client needs proactively.
- Exact client product and service valuations are deemed unpredictable for the 18-month to three-year horizon, with a conviction that the world will not return to a five-day office routine as a normal operation.
- Office return plans involve a slow, location-by-location ramp-up starting with 5 to 10 percent of staff in home office cities over the next month, potentially rising to one-third later in the year, with 100 percent five-day attendance considered unlikely for a long time.
- Work models will adjust to a hybrid schedule of part-time office and part-time remote work for all staff, including executives, prioritizing voluntary attendance and never mandating office presence for those uncomfortable returning.
- Employee health and safety will be the primary consideration, supported by policies mandating vacation time, reduced travel frequency with different prioritization, and increased focus on one-on-one virtual interactions.
- Business continuity is expected to continue despite the lack of physical presence, with plans to engage and win new clients virtually while fostering work-life habits and focusing on "little things" to support employees.
- The firm intends to leverage the current moment to address systemic racism and social injustice globally, opening dialogues in the U.S., Europe, the UK, and across Asia, while acknowledging that systemic exclusion has historically affected many stakeholders.
- Individual investors may experience a lasting fall in risk appetite following the traumatic event, necessitating an adapted approach to engagement and service delivery.
- Future strategies involve designing organizations for agility to respond quickly to changing needs, engaging in face-to-face interactions only when necessary, and focusing on performance while supporting communities most affected by multiple pandemics.