Fiserv has an opportunity to modernize how it thinks about work, productivity, and employee accountability.
The return-to-office model is being sold as “collaboration,” but for many employees, the actual workday does not support that claim. A large amount of the work still happens through Teams calls, emails, shared documents, workflow systems, and digital handoffs with colleagues, subject matter experts, developers, reviewers, and leaders who are spread across different states and locations.
That is not true in-person collaboration. That is remote work being performed from an office cubicle.
The issue is not whether employees should be accountable. They absolutely should be. The issue is whether physical presence is being mistaken for productivity.
Fiserv is a technology and financial services company. If the company wants to lead in innovation, artificial intelligence, automation, client service, and operational excellence, then it should manage employees by measurable outcomes, not outdated assumptions about “butts in seats.”
A better model would be simple:
Set clear productivity benchmarks.Set clear quality expectations.Set clear deadlines.Track cycle time, accuracy, responsiveness, client impact, rework, missed handoffs, stakeholder satisfaction, and risk reduction.Hold underperformers accountable.Reward employees who produce excellent work.Require office presence only when there is a legitimate business reason for people to be physically together.
That is a more mature operating model than blanket attendance rules.
Many employees were more willing to give extra time and discretionary effort when working from home because commuting was not draining hours and energy out of the day. When people are forced to commute to an office just to sit on virtual meetings with people in other locations, they become more protective of their time. That is not a lack of commitment. That is a rational response to an inefficient work design.
The company should ask itself a direct question:
What business outcome improves when an employee drives to an office, sits at a desk, and collaborates with remote colleagues through the same digital tools they would have used from home?
If there is a real answer, define it. Measure it. Apply it only where it makes sense.
But if the answer is vague language about culture, collaboration, or visibility, then the policy is not really about productivity. It is about control, optics, and habit.
Fiserv should not confuse visibility with value.
The future of work should not be built around where a person is sitting. It should be built around what they produce, how well they produce it, how reliably they deliver, and how much value they create for clients, teams, and shareholders.
The new CEO has a chance to reset this conversation. Not by eliminating accountability, but by making accountability smarter.
Measure the work.Measure the quality.Measure the outcomes.Measure the impact.
Then let high-performing employees do their jobs in the environment where they produce the best results, within legal, ethical, client, security, and compliance requirements.
That would be a real innovation culture.