Big return to office slams into reverse
A BID by one of Britain’s top accountancy firms to get staff back into the office has been badly hit by Boris Johnson urging employees to work from home.
The number of weekly visits by staff to the offices of PricewaterhouseCoopers peaked at 12,700 three weeks ago as the firm encouraged workers to return to their desks.
But now the figure is averaging just 7,000. The company employs 22,000 staff. PwC chairman Kevin Ellis said in the summer around 1,000 more were returning every week in late August and he hoped to have 50 per cent back by the end of September.
However, all hopes of a return to normality have crumbled since the Prime Minister urged Britons to work from home where possible on September 22 amid fears of a second wave of coronavirus.
The number of individual PwC employees making the journey into work is likely to be even lower than the 7,000 figure as some will be making multiple visits and driving the number up.
A PwC spokesman said: ‘ We’re following Government guidance closely so remote working continues to be significant.
‘Our offices remain open for employees who have a clear business or personal need to come in and we know our people value this approach.’ A number of major firms stalled plans to return staff to the office after Mr Johnson’s call. Banking giant HSBC said it was postponing its push to get ‘phase one’ workers – whose jobs are harder to do from home – back to their desks. And US bank Goldman Sachs, which brought around a third of its 6,000 UK workers back into its London building from mid- June, has also delayed any increase. The shrinking number of workers returning to city centres will pile more pressure on cafes, restaurants and pubs which rely on commuter trade and bustling business districts.
Several city centre hospitality companies have been unable to reopen since lockdown ended as there are too few customers to make it profitable.
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: ‘Smaller businesses cannot be up and running unless the big companies get their staff back to the office.
‘It’s deeply unpatriotic of them to stay away from their offices, causing chaos for those businesses which rely on them and their staff. It will lead to massive job losses.’