Next: Working from home means staff miss out on the camaraderie September 17, 2020 Staff working from home miss out on spontaneous conversations and the camaraderie of the office, retailer Next has said. The retailer said the pandemic had been “expensive and miserable” for everyone. But it conceded that there had been some good to come from it, particularly in communications, efficiency and employee job satisfaction. Like other non-essential [...]
Travelling to work hits highest level since Covid began September 17, 2020 The proportion of people travelling to work hit its highest level since the coronavirus lockdown began last week as Britons’ gradual return to offices and workplaces continued. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said 62 per cent of people travelled to work in the week that ended on 13 September. It was the first time [...]
Big businesses have a ‘national duty’ to return to work, says ad boss September 16, 2020 The UK’s large businesses and public sector have a “national duty” to get back to work, the chief executive of ad firm Ocean Outdoor has said. Tim Bleakley told City A.M. that mid-cap firms were leading the charge in getting back to the office, but urged larger companies to follow suit. Management at Ocean Outdoor, [...]
You’re required: Alan Sugar urges public to get back to work September 11, 2020 Business tycoon Lord Alan Sugar today urged Brits to “put on a suit, put on a dress and get back to work” amid rising calls to kickstart the faltering economy. Speaking to LBC radio, Sugar said people’s resilience meant “they get back, they recover, they get over it”. “If you do the right things which [...]
In a remote-working future, young people have so much to lose September 11, 2020 Boris once again rolled up his sleeves for a fight last week as he put pressure on employers to bring their teams back to the office. It won’t be easy – the business world is at loggerheads. JP Morgan and Schroeders, the most corporate of employers, have committed to remote working on a permanent basis [...]
The office is a particularly important place for startups September 11, 2020 Remote working is liberating us from the shackles of outdated, 20th Century habits, goes the prevailing narrative. We are freed from the purgatory of the daily commute and are spared office gossip, time-wasting meetings or pointless rituals. Major corporations seem to have embraced this ethos too. Google has said that most employees can be home-based [...]
City of London Corporation urges firms to return to the office September 10, 2020 The City of London Corporation has called on businesses to start bringing employees back to the Square Mile. Speaking at the Court of Common Council, policy chair Catherine McGuinness said that any return to the office for City workers must be in line with government guidance. “We know that the workforce in the Square Mile [...]
One in five Londoners will not go back to pre-Covid levels of Tube usage September 10, 2020 A little more than one in five Londoners do not believe they will use the Tube at the same frequency as they did prior to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new survey. A newly released YouGov survey, seen exclusively by City A.M., showed that 22 per cent of Londoners expect their decreased use of [...]
Exclusive: Bank of England spends £120,000 making HQ Covid-secure September 10, 2020 The Bank of England has been hugely busy during the coronavirus pandemic, pulling the levers of monetary policy in a desperate effort to support the economy. But it has also been working hard closer to home. It has spent at least £117,000 on making its historic Threadneedle Street headquarters as safe as possible during Covid [...]
Spare a thought for line managers in the world of hybrid working conditions September 10, 2020 As I left my bustling neighbourhood in West London recently, to commute to my office in the empty streets of central London, it became clear that a widespread return to office-based work in the UK is tentative to say the least. Britain’s employees are returning to their workplaces at a snail’s pace (just 34 per [...]