Death of the commute as more people want to work from home

COMMUTING to work could fall by a fifth even after society returns to normal, a poll has found.

The survey found that there could be a drop of 20 per cent in travel to the office when all restrictions are lifted, compared to before lockdown, with a majority of workers envisaging working from home full or part-time.

On Friday, Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, unveiled his road map for a “more significant return to normality” by November, with a “strong and sincere hope” that this would include an end to social distancing.

Mr Johnson said that from Aug 1, guidance on working from home would change, with discretion given to businesses to decide whether staff could return to workplaces. He added that workers “should use public transport if they need to”.

However, the latest polling undertaken by Toluna for LEK Consulting shows that many workers will forgo their former commute to work if allowed by their employers.

Andrew Allum, senior partner at LEK Consulting, said: “Our surveys show that a high proportion of workers who are new to working from home want to carry on post-Covid either entirely at home or with a new mix involving fewer than five days in the office.

If these workers were allowed (by their employers) to choose, it could lead to around a 20 per cent reduction in total commuting journeys.”

Separately, an exclusive poll by Orb International for The Sunday Telegraph found that only one in five people are planning to go out for food or drink at a restaurant or pub next week and that there is widespread public support for the Government’s rule on wearing masks in shops, with 76 per cent supporting the rule and only 19 per cent opposing it.

The public’s attitude to remote working has changed significantly.

A June poll of 560 employees, to whom remote working is new, found that 66 per cent of respondents now want to remain at home full-time or part time for one to two days a week.

Nearly one-third of employees, 28 per cent, told pollsters in June that they now want to continue working from home full time – up from 18 per cent in April – and 38 per cent want to continue remote working part time, up from 29 per cent.

Conversely, the proportion of those who want a return to the office as before lockdown dropped from 53 per cent in April to 35 per cent in June.