NEARLY all of Britain's biggest 50 firms are planning a flexible work-from-home model following the Covid lockdown.
The companies plan on using a "hybrid" model of work, allowing staff to work from home two or three days a week post-pandemic.
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A staggering 43 per cent of the country's biggest firms are on board with the hybrid working schedule, according to a survey.
And just four employers are still deciding whether the mixture of working from home and office working will be beneficial for them.
Advertising company WPP's chief executive Mark Read told BBC News "We're never going to go back to working the way we used to work," with staff in the office just one or two days a week.
Insurance firm Aviva said 95 per cent of its 16,000-strong work force want to be flexible and have the option to work from home.
Meanwhile, JP Morgan has had some staff back in the office and Investor Rathbones is operating at 25 per cent capacity with staff allowed to come back "if they wish."
And as we get closer to June 21 when all social distancing is set to end, more staff may be able to work in offices as capacity increases.
But with long and sometimes expensive commutes, some thousands of Brits may benefit from the flexible working patterns – despite social distancing rules ending in offices.
Outsourcing giant Capita said workers have been told they will work from home until at least the end of June, while Lloyds Bank has asked staff to stay at home until at least the summer.
At accounting firm KPMG, staff have been told they will work up to four days in a fortnight in the office starting next month, as the company trials the hybrid working system.
A spokesperson for Google said that starting in September, the company will also transition to a "hybrid model" with a majority of employees required in the office for at least three days per week.
As it stands, the Government's message is still "work from home if you can," in a bid to keep Covid levels at bay.
Some studies have claimed productivity is reduced if workers log in from home rather than the office – but many employers are still opting for hybrid models.
The “work from home” message was brought in at the start of the first lockdown last March.
That changed though during the summer as Covid cases eased and employees were urged to return to their offices in a bid to get Britain working again, despite objections from Labour MPs and trade unions.
When Johnson announced the third national lockdown at the start of this year he said people should go to work only if they “absolutely” could not work from home.
Last summer, ONS figures said that nearly half of working adults in the UK were working remotely – compared to five per cent before the pandemic.
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