Over the last few weeks and months, post-lockdown working structures have been a hot topic in the HR space as employers turn their attention to the future of work.

Now that ‘Freedom Day’ has passed – which saw the majority of legal restrictions lifted in England earlier this month – some will continue working from home while others will return to a physical office environment.

Despite this, around one in ten office workers believe they are never going back to the office – in any shape or form – according to data from DSA Connect, an IT asset disposal company.

It found that ten per cent of office workers – which equates to circa 1.7million people – said that they would not go back to the office even one day per week following the easing of restrictions.

Nine per cent don’t expect to return to the office until next year at the earliest.

Future changes

The research also found that those who do return will potentially face huge changes. In fact, 30% of workers say that their office has been permanently closed or is being reorganised, while half say that their office has shut or will shut.

Aside from shedding light on these potential changes, the data found that many of those who do go back aren’t necessarily happy about it.

For example, circa 25% say they have enjoyed working remotely and don’t want it to change, while 12% say they are worried about the risks of catching the virus.

According to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), more than 25% of employees currently work from home, while around a quarter of businesses (24%) which are still trading say that they plan to boost homeworking opportunities in future.

Harry Benham, Chairman of DSA Connect, said that business must think “long and hard” about their offices and how they make the most effective use of them going forwards.

He explained: “Clearly many are already taking the decision to shut offices or move to smaller premises and substantial numbers of staff are not going to return to the office at all.”

‘Never going back’

Benham’s thinking – that a substantial number of staff are not going to return to the office at all – dovetails with a wider trend which has seen many employers say that they won’t be returning to the office full-time.

In fact, earlier this year, the BBC quizzed 50 of the UK’s largest firms to find out their working structure plans past the peak of the pandemic.

Around 43 of the employers said that they would embrace a mix of office and homeworking, with staff encouraged to work from home between two and three days per week.

Elsewhere, four firms said that they were keeping the idea of hybrid working – which allows staff to flex between working in the office and working from home – under review.

One business to be polled was the advertising firm WPP. Mark Read, Chief Executive of WPP, previously told the BBC that “we’re never going to go back to working the way we used to work”.

He explained that the new ways of utilising the office would require consideration and careful planning.

“People are working from home three to four days a week so we probably need 20% less space, but we’re not going to do that if everyone’s working from home on Mondays and Fridays,” he added.

MyGrapevine, Sophie Parrott

July 2021