Convincing staff to return to the office on Fridays is a “lost cause”, according to the chairman of Lloyd’s of London.
The insurance marketplace is one of several companies that have been trying to attract employees back to the workplace.
The rise in remote working since Covid has sparked a culture war in the city as many bosses have said skills and productivity are being lost due to a lack of face-to-face contact.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said the default place for workers should be the office.
But while companies have made progress in persuading staff (known as Twats because they will return only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays), the latest comments from Lloyd’s leader Bruce Carnegie-Brown suggest that returning to a full Monday-to-Friday working week Friday at the office can never be achieved.
Comforts at home: Bruce Carnegie-Brown suggests returning to a full Monday-to-Friday workweek in the office may never be achieved
Lloyd’s said last year it wanted to “bring back Monday” and is starting to see that happen at its City of London headquarters.
But Carnegie-Brown said Fridays had already been a “fairly low attendance” day before the Covid lockdowns. “I’d love to get a little more back from Friday, but I think it’s a lost cause,” she said.
Carnegie-Brown said she didn’t “care too much” if the situation doesn’t fully return to pre-pandemic norms, in part because some of the work can be done digitally and remotely. Sometimes the job simply involves renewing “pretty standard” insurance coverage, Carnegie-Brown said.
“But there is also a complex aspect to insurance and a big part of what we do is hurricanes and earthquakes, large energy projects and shipping,” he added. This requires “tailored” solutions that are best worked out in person, he said.
Transport for London data obtained by Cities Centre, a think tank, confirms the Lloyd’s chairman’s observations about the Square Mile emptying at the end of the week, with noticeably fewer journeys through the district’s stations. Friday.
Midweek, travel is around 80 percent of pre-Covid levels, but barely half arrive on Fridays.