The traditional office could be a thing of the past as companies announce they will let employees work from home permanently, leaving empt...
The traditional office could be a thing of the past as companies announce they will let employees work from home permanently, leaving empty commercial real estate across the UK.
Social media giant Twitter told its 5,000 employees, including those at its London office, on Tuesday it would be their decision on whether they want to return to the office once they reopen, while Facebook and Google have allowed most employees to work remotely until the end of the year.
And Britain's largest commercial landlord has warned that its profits will plummet as office rental rates drop by 20%.
Many offices will be left half empty as business begins with limited workforces and a survey has found employees' productivity while working from home dropped by only 1%.
BT currently has 8,500 call centre staff working remotely and the company says it will let staff decide whether or not they want to come back.
Twitter says staff could work from home 'forever' other tech giants such as Facebook and Google (above) have allowed most employees to work remotely through the end of the year
Twitter announced Tuesday it will allow employees to work remotely permanently, as the coronavirus outbreak forces companies to make unprecedented changes in offices across the globe
The firm surveyed call centre staff, which takes calls relating to BT, EE and PlusNet, at the start of the coronavirus lockdown and discovered around 65% wished to work from home.
While staff are designated are key workers, the company has been able to get them working from home.
MD of Service Nick Lane said: 'There's no reason to change the current situation, with 65% of our staff working from home and around 35% in the office. It's allowed us to be more extreme with our social distancing measures.
'I think going forward there'll be a group of people that would like to go back to work, we'll keep that flexibility of working from home. This is also giving us the chance to hire people who might have accessibility issues and couldn't make it to the office, or who wanted to work shorter shifts, now they can do that from home.'
BT, which has call centre offices across the UK and Ireland, including Canterbury, Plymouth, Merthyr and Enniskillen in says it is 'striving to offer its colleagues the option to work from home'.
As workers adapt to working from home, Britain's biggest commercial landlord has warned the Covid-19 pandemic could trigger the decline of the traditional office.
Land Securities has revealed just 10 per cent of the office space it owns is being used.
But it warned the change could become permanent after the lockdown ends, if employers seek to reduce costs.
It fears there is worse to come as tenants forced to close their businesses during the outbreak struggle to pay rent.
The FTSE 100 giant collected just 63 per cent of quarterly rents within ten days of their March due date as the pandemic hit, down from 94 per cent a year earlier.
Swanky offices such as Google's in London will be sitting empty for months after the tech giant advised employees to work from home
CEO Jack Dorsey emailed employees Tuesday saying when offices do finally open their doors, workers can choose to come in or continue working from afar. Twitter says most offices wont be opened before September
Warning it does not expect the economy to fully recover until 2022, it cautioned that retail rents could plunge by three quarters in a 'severe but plausible scenario'.
Yesterday Mark Allan, who took over as Landsec boss last month, said he was launching a review of the business and that 'nothing was ruled in or ruled out'.
A Twitter spokesman said: 'Opening offices will be our decision. When and if our employees come back, will be theirs,' a spokesperson for the company said.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey emailed employees Tuesday saying when offices do finally open their doors, staffers in positions that allow them to work remotely can continue to do so.
'We've been very thoughtful in how we've approached this from the time we were one of the first companies to move to a work-from-home model. We'll continue to be, and we'll continue to put the safety of our people and communities first,' a Twitter spokesman said.
In the UK, companies such as Sky and Amazon workers who can work remotely continue to do so - but neither company has commented on whether it could become a permanent option.
An Amazon spokesman said: 'Employees who work in a role that can effectively be done from home are welcome to do so until at least October 2.
'We are working hard and investing significant funds to keep those who choose to come to the office safe through physical distancing, deep cleaning, temperature checks, and the availability of face coverings and hand sanitizer.'
Traditional office working could be a thing of the past, experts have warned, as businesses look to move away from workers commuting into their jobs, above, the Nova Victoria building
Barclays boss Jes Staley told the BBC last month big, expensive city offices could be a 'thing of the past'.
The banking giant has around 70,000 staff working from home worldwide due to lockdown measures.
Mr Staley said the change was causing Barclays to evalutate it's long term 'location strategy,' as it was now being run by staff working 'from their kitchens'.
This had led to a rethink of the bank's long term "location strategy", Mr Staley said.
It came as Barclays warned the pandemic could cost it some £2.1bn due to customers being unable to repay loans.
But Mr Staley said his bank was re-evaluating how much office space it needed, as it was now being run by staff working 'from their kitchens'.
Mark Allan, CEO of Land Securities, said he was launching a review of the business and that 'nothing was ruled in or ruled out'
Other tech giants such as Facebook and Google have allowed most employees to work remotely through the end of the year, while Amazon's corporate workers will be able to work from home until at least October.
'Opening offices will be our decision. When and if our employees come back, will be theirs,' a spokesperson for Twitter said.
Twitter was one of the first in the tech business to urge employees to work remotely when the coronavirus first emerged in the US in mid-March.
Last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees that while they will be able to work remotely for the remainder of 2020, offices will reopen on July 6.
Google made a similar announcement, saying it will extend remote working from June 1 to December 31.
Sundar Pichai, the firm's CEO, added that some employees will be able to work from its offices in June or July, with safety measures in place.
Barclays' CEO Jes Staley, said his bank was reviewing how much office it space it needed as most of its staff were now working 'from their kitchens'
A US survey of 1,600 people found workers are feeling more productive while working from home, even if they're sharing the space with someone else working remotely.
One-third of respondents said they feel that their productivity has increased since having to work remotely—this, despite the fact that more than half of the study's participants are teleworking alongside another person at home.
Tania Saba, co-author of the study, said: 'It's interesting to note that both men and women said they were more productive.'
'It is not true to say that only women prefer to telework as a way of balancing their work and home life. The reasons are more complex and diverse.'
Nearly 40 per cent of those surveyed said they preferred working from home.
Meanwhile a global survey of workers revealed 86% of remote workers rate their productivity as excellent or good during the coronavirus lockdown.
No comments