Revolut pushes new recruits into office in shift from ‘remote-first’ policy | Revolut

Revolut will attract hundreds of graduates and trainees to the office next year as the digital bank moves away from its long-used “remote control” policy to attract new hires.

The London-based fintech firm had previously allowed its young interns to choose whether to work from home or from Revolut’s offices, mirroring the flexible working arrangements offered to all other staff. This included the option to work abroad 120 days a year, and the company said it trusted its employees to “explore new cultures while remaining productive and connected.”

This level of flexibility has long been a key recruiting tool for Revolut, which has set itself apart from other fintech firms, and its recruitment website says: “No ping pong tables or bean bags, just the benefits you actually want.”

But Revolut is changing these rules for its 2027 batch of graduates and interns, saying it recognizes that “the early stages of a career benefit from personal collaboration and mentoring”.

Instead, they will be hired on a hybrid basis and will be required to work at least three days a week in a Revolut office, wherever they work. This will affect hundreds of young interns as Revolut has hired more than 300 graduates and interns this year.

But Revolut said this was not the start of a rollback of flexible staffing benefits for its global workforce of 11,000, most of whom work from its new headquarters in London’s Canary Wharf.

Revolut, which has 13 million customers in the UK and was valued at $75bn (£55bn) last year, said in a statement: “Revolut operates a remote-first model globally. We also recognize that the early stages of a career benefit from personal collaboration and mentoring, which is why all trainee and graduate roles in our 2027 talent programs are hybrid, with successful candidates on the program expected to be in the office at least three days a week.”

“This applies only to 2027 talent programs. Our remote priority policy for all other employees remains unchanged.”

Sally Hall, senior counsel at employment law firm Bellevue Law, said: “Having spent most of my professional career working remotely, I can completely understand the need to recruit graduates. The best way to learn is to be a sponge, and working remotely makes this much more challenging. But senior people need to be in the office too, otherwise there’s nothing to absorb.”

The company, which finally received a full-fledged UK banking license after an unusual five-year wait earlier this year, said successful graduates hired on full-time contracts will benefit from its remote-first policy, like the rest of its workforce. This includes the policy of working from abroad after passing probationary periods.

The decision to change its policy towards young interns, first reported by the Financial Times, puts Revolut more in line with other major banks that have tightened their work-from-home policies in the wake of the Covid outbreak, particularly for junior staff.

This includes JP Morgan, whose CEO is Jamie Dimon. I told Bloomberg last year: “It’s an apprenticeship system… you can’t learn to work from your basement.”