Five-day office week will be back, experts predict Business News

People will return to their desks five days a week for the next two years, according to a think tank.

Working from home has become the norm during the pandemic and the UK is likely to transition to a hybrid of working from home and the office as it recovers from the pandemic.

However, some experts believe the country will return to pre-Covid working models within the next two years.

“I think we’ll see three or four days a week in the office as the UK recovers,” Paul Swinney, director of policy and research at the Center for Cities think tank, told the Wake Up to program. Money from Radio 5 Live.

“Longer term, I’m hopeful that we’ll see people coming back five days a week. “

Mr Swinney said one of the perks of being in the office was “to interact with other people, come up with new ideas and share information,” which he said had to happen. organically, rather than by people scheduling meetings.

He added, “If you’re in the office on a Monday but someone else is in the office on a Wednesday, then you start to miss. Or, if your coworker is in the office and has a meeting with your boss and you don’t. ‘re not there, all of a sudden it changes the dynamics again. “

People who can work from home are currently advised to do so, but the advice is likely to change if the government continues its plan to end all social distancing restrictions on June 21.

While most people did not work from home in 2020, the proportion of workers who more than doubled during the pandemic, according to Office for National Statistics data released in May.

Another consequence of the pandemic has been an “unprecedented demand” for flexible office services, as more companies embrace hybrid work.

“We had a very strong participation. People want flexible terms, ”Jessica Bowles, director of strategy at commercial property developer Bruntwood, told the BBC.

“What’s interesting is that it’s the businesses that want to do it and the small businesses and SMEs.”

It comes as the TUC has warned that a shift towards more people working from home could lead to “a new class division.”

The union coordination group said those who were able to work from home during the pandemic may find it easier to get more flexible work in the future, while others have fewer options.

The TUC report argued that employers should offer a range of different types of flexibility, not just working from home, citing job-sharing agreements, flexible hours, quarter-only hours and annualized hours or compressed – which he says will allow people to adjust to other commitments such as babysitting around their work.