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Brits Don’t Want to Go Back to Working Pre-Covid-19 Office Hours

The survey found that 35% people worry that going back to the office will harm both their mental health and productivity.

Brits Don’t Want to Go Back to Working Pre-Covid-19 Office Hours
Commuters sits at either ends of a bench at Westminster London Underground station in London, U.K. (Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg)

As offices and shops in Britain start to reopen, most business executives and their workers would rather not return to work in the way did before the pandemic, a poll shows.

Accountancy and consulting firm Theta Financial Reporting’s survey of 2,000 adults also found that two-thirds of people aren’t comfortable commuting on public transport and 35% worry that going back to a traditional office will harm both their mental health and productivity.

With the number of deaths and confirmed cases of Covid-19 consistently falling, the government and employers have been trying to kickstart an economy that’s facing the biggest slump in output in more than 300 years. The Bank of England is increasingly worried that job cuts will be worse than expected.

The poll found:

  • 57% do not want to go back to a normal office environment with normal office hours.
  • 45% of business leaders see the working environment changing for the better because of the impact of the pandemic.
  • In bad news for landlords, nearly a fifth say their employer will no longer be in a permanent office when they return to full-time work.
  • More than a quarter say their company’s finance teams will now work at home for the majority of the time.
  • Almost the same percentage haven’t been offered flexible working options by employers.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.