Office workers in central London are spending on average 2.3 days a week in the workplace, according to a report that warns against a wholesale switch to working from home.
And who has commissioned this report? Someone with an agenda?
The thinktank Centre for Cities carried out polling of office workers in the capital and found they were spending 59% of the time in their workplace compared with pre-Covid levels.
But the report, entitled Office Politics: London and the Rise of Home Working, warns that, despite the upfront benefits for staff in terms of better work-life-balance and less commuting, there may be longer-term costs for the capital in terms of lost productivity.
Ah. Of course. Who else commissions reports these days?
He pointed to firms’ ability to hire staff from a local pool of high-skilled labour, as well as the benefits within companies of the creativity that comes with face-to-face interaction, and the on-the-job learning that takes place between colleagues.
Yup, we hear the same crap from my workplace, disregarding the fact that many teams are scattered around the country and so never meet (except virtually) anyway...
The report, supported by the Eastern City business improvement district, which includes firms in that part of London, calls for policies to encourage workers to return.
These could include scrapping peak-time fares on a Friday morning to tempt commuters, and launching a public information campaign to underline the benefits of office life.
Well, who could argue with a public information campaign? We all know how truthful they are...
