Despite the pandemic’s termination, a poll of British employees reveals that they still only attend work an average of 1.5 days per week.
A study of 43 UK businesses conducted in June and July by the consultancy Advanced Workplace Associates, which provides advice to the Cabinet Office, NatWest, and Network Rail, revealed that just 13% of employees come in on Fridays.
The workforce of close to 50,000 individuals had an overall average attendance of 29%, with a midweek high of 39%.
Before the epidemic, employees went to work around 3.8 days each week to perform employment in the banking, energy, engineering, healthcare, insurance, and technology sectors.
But according to information released by the Office for National Statistics in May, three out of every four individuals in Britain are now travelling to work at some time throughout the week, up from two-thirds in April.
In a survey conducted between May 11 and May 22, 75% of individuals reported they had travelled to work in the previous week, either entirely or in combination with some time spent working from home. This is an increase from 66% of those surveyed from April 13 to 24.
At 37% in mid-May compared to 36% in mid-April, the percentage of persons who work from home at least sometimes remains almost stable.
In the meanwhile, Advanced Workplace Associates said that the tendency persisted in the 36 workplaces it had studied, which were located in 12 different countries and included nearly 27,000 workers.
People now work 1.4 days on average per week as opposed to 3.8 days per week before the epidemic. Mid-week attendance peaked at 35%, while the average was 26%.
Although North America still had the greatest desk allocation—96 vs the UK’s 79—it also had the lowest office attendance.
The average attendance in the US and Canada had fallen to 21%, while it was 27% in the EU and 19% in Latin America.
The highest peak utilisation is in banking, healthcare, and engineering, while tech, energy, and logistics have the lowest usage at around 32% on average.
The Conservative Party has long fought against working from home, and this week, Jacob Rees-Mogg promised to tighten down on “flextime” scheduling.
Due to this, federal officials may work around five hours less per week than the national average while still receiving full compensation.
The arrangement, which, according to the minister for government efficiency, is probably a waste of public money, has been subject to an official Whitehall-wide assessment.
When working outside of core hours throughout the day and putting in 37.5 hours per week, public employees are eligible for flextime, which gives them the freedom to choose their own start and stop timings as well as generous overtime compensation.
Additionally, he has criticised both visiting government buildings in Whitehall to look for staff members who are not there and working from home.
Liz Truss promised earlier this month to increase the number of civil workers working again after it was discovered that many Whitehall desks remain vacant.
She supported Cabinet Office minister Jacob Rees-initiatives Mogg’s to end the culture of working from home in the civil service.
The Foreign Secretary, who has previously advocated that flexible scheduling should “become the norm,” made the commitment as Cabinet Office statistics revealed that, in the week beginning July 25, just over half of Whitehall desks were filled.
The Scotland Office and Miss Truss’ own department were the worst offenders, accounting for 27% and 34%, respectively. As the weeks pass, the numbers decrease.
I support the work that Jacob Rees-Mogg has been doing, Ms. Truss said, and I will be carefully considering that.