Working in office full-time more popular than home working, ONS survey reveals
The number of employees returning to work full time has increased since Boris Johnson's lockdown exit roadmap was announced, Office for National Statistics (ONS) data reveals.
A total of 39 per cent of Britons now report working exclusively in the office, compared with 32 per cent who are only home working, the body's survey of more than 4,000 adults found.
The proportion of home workers fell below that of office workers in the middle of June as the first lockdown measures were eased (33 verses 36 per cent).
The gap continued to widen and office working dominated until the third national lockdown was announced in January, prompting home working to become more popular.
However, this trend has now reversed, with 39 per cent of adults in Britain reporting going to the office full time between February 24 and 28, compared with 32 per cent who worked at home in the same period.
The findings come a week after David Solomon, the boss of Goldman Sachs, rejected home working as an "aberration" which should be "corrected as soon as possible".
“I do think for a business like ours, which is an innovative, collaborative apprenticeship culture, this is not ideal for us - and it’s not a new normal," he said.
But many businesses have embraced home working.
HSBC, one of the country’s biggest employers, is planning to axe 40 per cent of global office space, equivalent to 112 football pitches.
Lloyds, Britain’s biggest high-street bank, is poised to cut 20 per cent of its offices by 2023 after it found that three quarters of staff would like to work from home three or more days a week.
The ONS's report also found that despite fluctuations in the dominance of exclusive home and office working, the proportion of people combining the two has remained relatively stable - suggesting many Britons have settled into a consistent pattern of varying their work environment.
Their most recent figures show around 10 per cent of adults are combining home and office working. The peak of this trend was at the end of September, when 14 per cent reported doing so.
The ONS previously found that 16 per cent of companies intend to use more home working as a permanent part of their business model. This was led by the IT and communications industry in which more than a third said remote working was here to stay.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has rejected the idea that lockdowns during the pandemic will lead to a permanent shift to home working.
Speaking at a rail industry conference via video call last week, Boris Johnson said: “I know that some people may imagine that all conferences are going be like this, held over Zoom, Teams or what have you and we’ve got to prepare for a new age in which people don’t move around, do things remotely, they don’t commute any more.
“I don’t believe it. Not for a moment. In a few short months, if all goes to plan, we in the UK are going to be reopening our economy. And then, believe me, the British people will be consumed once again with their desire for the genuine face-to-face meeting that makes all the difference to the deal or whatever it is.”
