Get back to the office, Bell Potter tells staff
Bell Financial Group staff are going to have to relearn the art of office small talk, though not willingly.
Bell Financial Group executive chairman Colin Bell, left, and his right hand man Alastair Provan. Ryan Stuart
Street Talk understands the full-service broker is in uproar after management issued a back-to-the-office edict. Starting from Monday, Bells employees may only work remotely 10 days per year, a measure which is sure to ruffle a few feathers given the Sydney office is regularly less than half full.
Sources said some Bells employees are disgruntled with the decision, particularly those sitting on flexible contracts pre-dating the COVID-19 lockdowns who have been warned those terms may no longer be valid.
Bell Financial Group is the umbrella company for a range of businesses including Bell Potter Securities, Bell Commodities, Bell FX and Bell Direct. According to the group’s website, it employs over 750 people including 325 advisers over 15 offices globally and has over $74.4 billion in funds under advice.
It’s unclear whether the edict affects all of Bell’s business units worldwide. The company did not wish to comment when contacted by Street Talk.
Bell Financial is the latest in the string of businesses to order its staff back to work. Citi told its 880 staff to come back to the office three days a week in October 2022 while JPMorgan ordered its managing directors globally back to the office five days a week earlier this year saying it needed its senior leadership to “lead by example”.
However, employees aren’t taking the orders lying down. The Commonwealth Bank is currently facing a union challenge claiming the bank had failed to consult employees over its direction for them to return to the office at
Read more on afr.com
