Man Group, the world's largest hedge fund manager, has ordered its London Quants to temporarily return to the office five days a week, but perform poorly.
Man Ahl, the company's flagship systems investment arm, told employees that it now expects its team to be in the office every day.
The change applies to around 150 people in London, accounting for less than 10% of the global total 1,700 employees and covers three months from May to the end of July.
Man Group said: “Man AHL has asked its London employees to work in the office for three months five days a week to support the 'all-round hand-wearing deck' cross-team research project.”
“Although these cross-team initiatives are rarely frequent, experience shows that a highly concentrated, face-to-face collaboration allows significant research progress in a relatively short period of time,” it added. “The company’s broader agile work policy remains the same.”
The directive is a change in the position of the asset manager for $172.6 billion. Man Group has historically viewed its flexible work arrangement culture, including working from home, as a competitive advantage.
"You can't imagine how bad it is," said one person familiar with the situation. "The mood is not good."
The situation varies by role. However, according to a second person familiar with the situation, employees tend to be in the office three days a week.
Man Group’s cross-team efforts are due to the huge losses suffered by computer-powered hedge funds such as AHL.
The market volatility caused by U.S. President Donald Trump's upcoming trade war has made one of their main strategies - trying to seize on the ongoing market trends as the market turns in different directions.
Man Group's AHL is one of the longest running system hedge fund managers. Its flagship institutional trends follow strategy AHL Alpha plans lost 10% so far this year, with a stake in 2024 growing by just 3.2%.
Despite long-term efforts to get the broader business beyond AHL, Man Group's share price remains closely related to the performance of its quantitative business due to its higher fees. The company's shares have lost one-third of its value in the past 12 months.
Man Group is the latest financial services group to tighten its flexible working policies. Last month, the Financial Times revealed that Blackrock, the world's largest asset manager, told employees that about 1,000 boards around the world will work full-time in the office.
Other large financial institutions such as JPMorgan Chase have also restricted flexible work policies, and in January, Bank of America ordered its 300,000 employees to return to the office five days a week.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has been one of the most vocal opponents in family culture, saying “It doesn’t work for young people…it doesn’t work…it doesn’t work…it doesn’t work…it doesn’t work…it doesn’t work…it doesn’t work…it doesn’t work…it doesn’t work.”