Nearly 90% of people want to continue working from home despite government attempts to get Brits back to the office

Jake Thykier28 August 2020

Nearly nine out of 10 people who have worked from home during lockdown want to continue doing so, despite a government drive to get people back to the office, a report has found.

New research shows that the number of employees working from home went from six per cent before the start of the pandemic to 43 per cent in April, shortly after lockdown measures were introduced.

The survey, entitled Homeworking in the UK: before and during the 2020 lockdown, indicated that productivity remained stable when compared to six months before the epidemic.

It comes as the Government tries to get Brits back to the office amid fears that city centres could become "ghost towns". Carolyn Fairbairn, the director-general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), warned earlier this week that the costs of office closures "are becoming clearer by the day". She said: "Some of our busiest city centres resemble ghost towns, missing the usual bustle of passing trade.”

The survey, by academics at Cardiff University and the University of Southampton, said 88 per cent of employees who worked at home during lockdown would like to continue doing so in some capacity, with 47 per cent wanting to do so often or all the time.

It also found that 41 per cent of people believe that they did the same amount of work at home as they did in the office with 29 per cent saying that they had accomplished more work than in the office.

Professor Alan Felstead, based in Cardiff, said: "Giving employees flexibility on where they work could be extremely beneficial for companies as they attempt to recover from the impact of Covid-19.”

While people are more productive at home, report co-author Darja Reushke, from the University of Southampton, said that city centres would remain quiet for a few years.

But she said this could be positive, adding: “This also provides an opportunity for us to radically rethink our city centres as multi-use places that accommodate different kinds of economic uses and are not built around fast roads that connect workplaces with residences.”

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