Treasurers at tech firms push to abandon legacy processes while focusing on keeping teams connected.
Many tech companies during the pandemic have been able to announce that they will not lay anyone off during the crisis—and have been able to keep their promise.
Unfortunately, that’s not universally true—some businesses have been particularly hard hit and have had to furlough or cut staff, and consequently do more with less. This prompted a hard look at projects and their prioritization for many members of NeuGroup’s Tech20 Treasurers’ Peer Group, who met virtually in May.
Mixed emphasis. Even for those members who didn’t have to downsize their teams, there was an effort to deprioritize certain projects to avoid the fatigue that creeps into teams as the work from home (WFH) regime drags on. But there may also be projects that should be accelerated.
- A lack of automation and digitalization manifests itself sharply in uncertain times and calls for a mindset of taking advantage of the crisis to boost these efforts.
- One simple example is the push for wider bank and regulatory acceptance of digital signatures (Adobe Sign, DocuSign) instead of the standard “wet” signature, not just on a temporary basis but permanently and globally.
- And if you haven’t automated enough of your cash positioning, for instance, now is the time to do so to free up time for critical forecasting and analysis.
Back in the office, or not so much? What will the future workplace look like, even if you have an office to go to? Even with smaller meeting sizes, half team in, half team out, masks on and temps checked—all of which will put a damper on the office enthusiasm—some employees might not have an office. One treasurer’s company had announced in May that it would reduce its real estate footprint by 50%; this has been something heard across NeuGroups.
- “Hoteling,” with coworking and shared work spaces, is back again. Will this lead to a reversal of the California exodus trend, i.e., going to lower-cost states? If one of the key reasons for distributing teams out of the state is the cost of Bay Area real estate, will that go on to the same degree if the team can just work from home instead, saving cost on office space? At the very least, the calculus will look a bit different going forward.
But really, what’s next? As one member noted, the new WFH paradigm is not likely to change any time soon and may become a permanent arrangement for some, or at least some of the time. What will that mean for recruitment processes, performance reviews, retention, team alignment and getting everyone to row in the same direction?
- Focus on the folks. A member noted the emphasis on empathy and keeping the team feeling connected: “At other meetings, we used to talk to about systems, systems, systems, and now it’s people, people, people. And I can’t imagine losing any of my people now.”
- When everyone’s remote, “it’s hard to recreate the ordinary dialogue you have” noted one of the RBC Capital Markets sponsors, referring to summer interns and new hires. That said, it seems that younger employees are thriving in the WFH environment and have grown more assertive; they were quieter in the office. As one member said, “On Zoom, everyone’s square is the same size.”
