Hearts & Minds: Change needs deeds, as well as words

News that St James’s Place is scrapping its annual staff gatherings in London and a spring sports break at Gleneagles hotel is welcome. Britain’s biggest wealth manager has suffered in recent years for its opulent ‘cruise and cufflinks’ culture. SJP, as it’s known, had become identified with a heavily sales-driven approach and excessive rewards. 

The London get-together for the firm’s 5,000 staff and self-employed financial advisers was due to be held at the O2 next month. Usually, top-performing sellers would take to the stage to applause from colleagues. Previous guest speakers included David Beckham and Bill Clinton. and there would be a sumptuous dinner in the evening. Now, the meeting will take place virtually. 

It's a brave call by the CEO, Mark FitzPatrick, who joined the group last year. There will be those within SJP who bemoan the loss of the O2 and Gleneagles extravaganzas, recalling them fondly and decrying the scrapping of occasions they regarded as precious and defining. He is bound to have caused some harumphing. 

So be it. FitzPatrick is displaying a ready appreciation of what is required to repair a damaged corporate reputation. The clue is in that word extravaganzas. Provided they remained, no amount of comms polish would disguise the view that SJP has not changed - it’s still mired in the past.  

The London event had been toned down since 2020 while perks, such as cruises, were scrapped completely. Nevertheless, the O2 and Gleneagles bashes existed. Going halfway is not enough – you may have ditched one half but there’s plenty in the other half for your critics to feed upon. If they’d gone ahead, SJP’s enemies would say ‘same old SJP, it’s claiming to have made strides to reform but hasn’t really’, and the circling media and social media would feast on every glorious detail. 

Signalling, putting down a marker, talking the talk, in such situations is insufficient. Words need to be accompanied by deeds and the latter must be concerted and consistent, leaving nothing that could risk you being portrayed as hypocritical. In response to the criticism, SJP has announced it is reforming its charging structure and dropping exit fees on certain products. Great, but imagine if the O2 and Gleneagles jollies had stayed in the calendar, what then? In removing them, FitzPatrick is showing he gets it.

Chris Blackhurst is one of the UK’s foremost business journalists. He was previously Editor of The Independent and City Editor of the Evening Standard.