Only 15% of workers return to the office

12 Aug, 2021

Only fifteen per cent of Londoners have returned to the office with the vast majority opting to work from home, The Evening Standard writes.

A report from the thinktank Centre for Cities found that the number of workers going into the office in 30 big cities across the UK stood at an average of just 18 per cent.

Brighton had the biggest return to the office, with 49 per cent of employees back at their desks.

This was followed by Gloucester (39 per cent), Southend (38 per cent) and York (37 per cent), the Guardian reported.

But in some cities the figures are much lower.
Only eight per cent of workers have returned in Glasgow, this is followed by London and Oxford where just 15 per cent of the workforce have returned to the office.

Similarly, just 16 per cent of workers are back in their offices in Sheffield and Milton Keynes.

The government had issued a work from home order to prevent the spread of Covid-19, but that was lifted on July 19 in England.

In Scotland, employees are still being encouraged to work from home if possible.

Paul Swinney, director of policy at Centre for Cities, told the Guardian the figures showed there remained significant reluctance to return to the office in some of the “largest and most economically important cities”.

He said that the “sandwich economy” that catered to city-centre office workers was facing “an uncertain future” as the end of the furlough scheme in September came closer.

At the weekend it was revealed that the Department of Health had dropped plans to make it mandatory for staff to be in the office four to eight days a month from September.