Is it common for hedge fund employees to be able to work remotely from anywhere?

I have come across a few hedge funds where many of their employees can work from home permanently. This is usually if the fund has an office in one country but also employees analysts across the world.

Just wondering if being able to work remotely from anywhere is the exception or the norm. 


 
 

No, that's not common (at least not yet, though who knows what may happen over the next year or two). Every large fund I know is calling everyone back to to the office later this year.  It appears there will be lots more hybrid "one or two days a week working at home for anyone who wants" situations. I'm sure there are lots of individual exceptions where someone negotiated a non-standard WFH arrangement for themselves,  and I'm sure there are a few funds who will allow permanent WFH for everyone, but most firms don't seem to be considering that as standard policy yet.

  But consider, if permanent WFH catches on, it'll be a huge downward pressure on your salary. Once the company allows you to work remotely from anywhere without coming in to the office, the company will ask itself "well, why are we paying this guy New York money to never come in to the office when we could hire a guy in India for 1/10th as much money". Even if that guy is only half as good as you, that still adds up to 5x more productivity for the money. Are you sure you're rooting for that trend?

 
Funniest

lol can't wait for the days HFs outsourcing analyst jobs to India. Wonder how the PMs will overcome the language barrier 

gottta say, I make some retarded comments on this site, but this one has to be up there among them 

 

Most people can’t even stand talking to call centers in India. You really think a HF PM is gonna hire analysts from there?

 

Most people who take their career seriously should not WFH even if that is an option in the office. Earlier in my career, I would have been naive enough to do something like that. But now that I am a boss and see things from the other side, my advice is this....if your boss is working in the office, so should you. It is so important to be present, to put in that face time (yes, I know is sucks), to be there for those impromptu conversations, to be there to grab lunch with your boss, to build that professional and personal relationship with your boss. Otherwise, you are just faceless and easily forgotten. But more importantly, when it's time to give out bonuses or dole out promotions or whatever that is pertinent to your career, take a wild guess who will get shafted. 

 
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If you are an analyst and keep recommending shitty stocks to your PM, will being in the office save you? Conversely, if you are an analyst and keep recommending 3-baggers to your PM, will he care that you are not in the office?

I suppose being in the office is a nice hedge - in case your coverage does poorly, you might have a marginal advantage in keeping your job over another analyst whose coverage does equally poorly but is WFH.

I do take your general point though, but feel like if there is one industry where this should matter less, it's at a hedge fund.

 

Yea, I can understand your POV because that's how I would have looked at it earlier in my career. But the reality is that there is little differentiation between most analysts. Everyone is smart and capable. And everyone will have good years, bad years, and a lot of "OK" years. So for most analysts, if their boss is working in the office, it probably behooves them to also be in the office because office politics, unfortunately, still plays a huge role in HFs as much as the industry pitches itself as being purely meritocratic. And, yes, obviously, if there is some analyst who is the next Dan Sundheim pitching 3-baggers all day long, that person can do whatever the hell he wants. But I'm not Dan Sundheim. And odds are that you aren't either. 

 

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