2024 Trends, Themes, and Predictions: Renewing Your Focus on Employees and Culture

After three years of disruption, investment management firms have settled into hybrid work arrangements. Throughout their journeys, many firms have made thoughtful investments in areas where employee feedback indicated a strong need, but most acknowledge more work remains.

In our 2023 Hybrid Work and Culture survey, Cutter found that two top challenges still plague investment managers with respect to their hybrid work arrangements: collaboration and employee engagement. Many employees report feeling disengaged, and experience stress and burnout. Collaboration challenges and low employee engagement negatively impact a firm’s culture and ultimately affect talent retention and the caliber of the products and services you deliver to end clients.

Harvard Business Review (HBR) defines culture as “ways people in an organization behave and the attitudes and beliefs that inform those behaviors, including formal, stated norms as well as implicit ways people work and interact.” Culture is like a garden that blooms only if employees receive the support to thrive and grow. Overall, healthy firm cultures are humanistic, promote well-being, and reduce burnout. Behaviors that support healthy cultures include collaboration, employee engagement, recognition, open communication, and growth opportunities.

We outline below some key areas that leaders and managers must focus on in 2024 to improve their firm’s culture:

• Clearly state your firm’s goals and priorities. This allows departments and teams to align their initiatives and deliverables with the firm’s objectives. Employees will gain a sense of purpose and connect with how their work ultimately impacts the firm’s outcomes and successes, all of which improves employee engagement.
• Keep an eye on hybrid work policies. Although hybrid work arrangements are the “new normal,” how they are defined can vary. A firm should be hyper-aware of what industry peers offer, make improvements, and use in-office time to innovate, mentor, and cultivate strong relationships.
• Build trust and a sense of belonging. Instill a culture where psychological safety, as defined by HBR, is “a shared belief — that it’s okay to take risks, express ideas and concerns, speak up with questions, and admit mistakes.”
• Strengthen training programs. Everyone benefits from continued training on those “softer” skills like listening techniques, time and stress management, and team building.
• Acknowledge, reward, and find ways to connect employees. Cutter Research members hold events to celebrate successes and coordinate activities outside of work to connect (e.g., volunteering, social gatherings). Don’t pass up an opportunity to celebrate wins or connect employees through activities.

Firms are working hard on many important initiatives to stay competitive and drive efficient growth. As this work progresses in 2024, it’s important to “tend to your garden.” We expect leaders and managers to nurture their cultures through transformative change as a key driver of success.

To learn more about this topic, or speak with a research analyst or consultant, contact us at [email protected].