Time to Return to the Office?

Despite the recent delay to the full lifting of coronavirus restrictions, now expected on 19th July, more and more offices are starting to reopen and workers are returning to them. Most people are still juggling a few days in the office with working from home but there are some employers that are planning for employees to return to the office for a full 5-day week once these restrictions are fully lifted.

Home-based working and the improvements in technology that have made this possible, were absolutely essential during the Coronavirus lockdown, but should this continue indefinitely or is there still a place for full-time office working?

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) recently released data from HMRC that 197,000 more people were on Pay As You Earn (PAYE) in May compared with April, as the economy started to open following the latest lockdown. This is down by 553,000 on pre-pandemic levels and shows that specific industries such as travel and hospitality are still struggling. It has also been a time for workers to reflect on their career and life aspirations and there is some evidence, particularly within hospitality and in commercial firms in city locations, that some workers are unwilling to return to long hours in the office or go back to the daily commute and have decided to retrain or take a career break.

Paul Swinney, Director of Policy and Research at Centre for Cities has said that he anticipated people will work “three or four days in the office as the UK recovers” and that there will be a return to “five days a week” over the longer term. This would be driven by the realisation that the benefits of working in the office outweigh those of being at home: the chat in the work kitchen, the sense of community and creativity that flows through discussions in the office and the opportunities for key professional development, that can’t be replicated on Zoom. However, not all businesses want their workers to return to the office and some employees are very happy working from home and vice versa. What’s clear is that there is no one-size fits all approach and the rules of working are constantly being rewritten.

Is it time to return to the office or is your business intending to continue with a flexible approach to working? Fill out our survey on LinkedIn and let us know your thoughts.

At Ink we are here to help you navigate the return to ‘business as usual’ in the way that works best for your business and your employees. For more information contact Ruth Johnson at hr@theinkgroup.co.uk