BBC
Lord Rose said working practices had regressed since the pandemic
Working from home is creating a generation that is “not doing a proper job”, the former boss of Marks and Spencer and Asda has warned.
Lord Rose told BBC Panorama that working from home was part of the “general decline” of the UK economy and that employee productivity was suffering.
His comments come as some companies are halting remote working. Amazon, Boots and JP Morgan are just some of the companies that now require head office staff to be present on a daily basis.
However, working from home expert Professor Nicholas Bloom said that while fully remote working can be “quite detrimental” to some workers’ productivity, spending three out of five days in the office was as productive as working from home. entirely to the office as a whole.
Lord Rose, who was chief executive of M&S and recently left as chairman of Asda, said: “We have regressed in this country in terms of working practices, in terms of productivity and in terms of the well-being of the country, I think, 20 years in the last four. »
In a December 2024 UK snapshot survey by the Office for National Statistics, 26% of people said they had worked hybridly in the previous seven days, with some days in the office and others at home – while 13% had been entirely remote. and 41% worked entirely in the office (the remainder were not working at the time).
The shift to working from home has transformed local economies. Industry estimates indicate that vacant office space has nearly doubled since the pandemic, a quarter of dry cleaning companies have closed, and the number of rounds of golf played during the work week has increased by 350 %, which suggests that some people mix work with pleasure.
Hospital records require staff to work three days a week in the office
Working from home is quickly becoming a major battleground in the culture wars. The government is currently legislating to strengthen the right of employees across the UK to request to work from home and says it intends to make it more difficult for employers to refuse requests.
But some employers, including government agencies, are fighting to get their employees back in the office, arguing that face-to-face interaction is essential to collaborative work.
In some cases, such as in the case of independent label Hospital Records, this requires negotiations between a younger workforce – some of whom may have never worked full-time in an office – and their older bosses.
Company founder Chris Goss, who introduced a new policy requiring staff to work three days in the office instead of two, said he had a “nagging feeling” that remote working had affected results of the company.
“I firmly believe that the music industry is all about relationships, and so the only way for any of us to build those kinds of meaningful relationships is to do it in person.”
Maya, the company’s 25-year-old marketing manager, said she enjoys being with her more experienced colleagues in the workplace. “There are a lot of people on my team who are much further along in their careers, so if I need help with something, you know, I can just ask someone.”
Maya says her ‘social battery’ would be depleted five days a week at the office
But she thinks she couldn’t be in the office five days a week “because my social battery runs out and sometimes I need to just be at home and get rid of a lot of admin.”
Professor Bloom, an economist at Stanford University, said his research on working from home suggests that employees in their teens and early 20s should probably be in the office at least four days a week to maximize their work opportunities. be supervised.
However, he said surveys of tens of thousands of employees in the UK, US and Europe suggest workers value the option of working from home two days a week, up to an increase salary of 8%.
Workplace Rights Minister Justin Madders told Panorama there was growing evidence that working from home was more productive. He also said it was good for growth because businesses would have “a much more motivated workforce” and “if we can get more people to work because of the flexibility offered to them, that will help us achieve our growth ambitions.”
Professor Nicholas Bloom said staff value two days of working from home as much as an 8% pay rise.
Professor Bloom may not be as optimistic about the effect of hybrid working on productivity, but he agrees that increasing the number of tasks that can be done from home could help economic growth if it encourages more of people returning to work, such as those with caring responsibilities.
“It’s a huge boost” and “kind of a win, win, win,” because people could work in better conditions, contribute to tax revenues and “everyone would win.”
One person who could benefit is Harleen, who was laid off after having her second child and has been unable to return to work because she can’t find a fully remote position that fits the routine of his autistic son.
“I don’t see these jobs advertised. I don’t see anything that addresses this flexibility,” she said.
“Every day I wake up and think I’m living Groundhog Day. All I do is be a mom. I love being a mom, but I want to be productive. I’m starting to feel like to just be a brain dead mother.
Harleen was unable to find flexible work after having two children
In the public sector, productivity is at its lowest level since 1997 – apart from the years of pandemic lockdowns – and some blame working from home. Since November 2023, civil servants have been called back two to three days a week.
But at several public agencies, including the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in Newport, south Wales, some staff are refusing to return.
Ed, IT delivery manager at the ONS and PCS union representative, said he has been working almost entirely from home since the pandemic. He says it helps him get his children to school and daycare and not waste time traveling.
“The senior leadership of the ONS never told us that there was a productivity problem, that there was a quality problem, that there was a deadline problem,” he said. he declared.
“We will never see this opportunity again. We must fight for workers’ rights.”
He and other union members are threatening to strike if they are forced to go to the office 40 percent of the time. Civilian Metropolitan Police staff and land registry union members are also in conflict over return-to-office policies.
The ONS, which is in talks with the union, believes “face-to-face interaction” helps “build working relationships, supports collaboration and innovation”.
But whatever the outcome of conflicts like this, it’s clear that full-time office work is now a thing of the past.
