[ 2021-03-19 ]

Over half of staff go back to workplace
More than half of the country’s employees
travelled to work last week for the first time
since official figures began being recorded last
June.

The Office for National Statistics reported that
53 per cent of workers travelled to their place of
employment at least once during the week to March
14, up from 48 per cent the week before.

The findings suggest that people began returning
to the workplace after schools reopened in England
on March 8. With the country still in lockdown,
official advice is that people should continue to
work from home if possible.

Despite the drift back to the office, new habits
appear likely to remain a permanent feature of the
economy after the pandemic is over. A report by
the Bank of England suggests that 34 per cent of
the workforce will continue working one day a week
from home.

The Bank’s decision-maker panel of 8,000 chief
financial officers said that 49 per cent of
workers were at home one day a week last month,
compared with 14 per cent before the pandemic.
Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England,
said this week: “I would be very surprised if
things went back to how they were before Covid.
For many people there will be more of a hybrid
model of working from home and working in a place
of work.”

While some companies plan to cut office space —
including Aviva, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Lloyds
Bank and Metro Bank — others are keen for
workers to return as soon as possible.

David Solomon, chief executive at Goldman Sachs,
told the bank’s 41,000 employees this month that
they should all be back in the office by the end
of summer. He called remote working an
“aberration that we are going to correct as
quickly as possible. This is not ideal for us and
it’s not a new normal.”

Jamie Dimon, boss of JP Morgan, said last year
that productivity was slipping on Mondays and
Fridays. He also expressed concerns about the
damage for graduate trainees and new starters.

“There are a lot of people who have been hired
into our companies who have never been into our
company,” he said at a conference in October.
“How do you build a culture and character? How
are you going to learn properly?”

Source - The Times, UK

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