Stephen Bird

Mr Bird said that office life is vital for generating new ideas and training the next generation of workers

Despite his concerns about remote working, SLA has said it will move forward with plans to adopt a new constitution that will allow it to hold its annual meeting virtually after the idea was rejected by investors in May.

The company needed 75pc support to adopt the new rules, however, 37pc of shareholders voted against the idea.  SLA said 19pc have now been pacified after it reassured them that shareholders will be able to choose to attend either in person or virtually, depending on social distancing guidelines at the time.

Mr Bird’s call for a return to the office goes against the ideas of several companies such as Twitter and Standard Chartered which expect home working to become the norm, The Daily Telegraph reports. 

In August, PwC and Schroders announced thousands of their staff would work from home permanently in the wake of COVID-19. Last month, Bank of Scotland owner Lloyds Banking Group told staff to work from home until at least next spring.

Stephen Bird said: “Collaboration, innovation, transformation of business models requires your best brains in real time, in a common space.

“I think there’s a lot of mythology (around working from home). Yes, there are things that you can do from home. Yes, it makes sense that we wouldn’t want people commuting to sit at a desk and just do a screen-based job. But, my God, you are not going to change the world by just accepting that everybody’s on a screen. It’s impossible.”

Mr Bird has brought on board to overhaul the operations of SLA which has struggled since its creation in the £11bn merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management in 2017.

Most of the investment firm’s employees continue to work from home due to renewed lockdowns, however, Mr Bird’s stance signals a change in mentality for the firm after most of its 4,500 UK staff were told in June that they should not expect a return to the office until 2021.

Mr Bird said that his company will cut the number of offices it has. He also said that clients are keen for their fund managers to be in the office where possible.