For the chairman of one FTSE 100 company, working remotely has a severe downside: ineffective board meetings. “I go into a meeting with my chief executive and my finance director, and the rest of the board will Zoom in,” the chairman said. But the reality is, most of the decisions have largely already been agreed around the coffee machine beforehand by the people physically in the office. “That face-to-face presence means those actually in the room have got a better chance of getting their own way,” he said.
For all the months of working from home since the pandemic broke out last year, most bosses are struggling to manage their teams as effectively as in the office. So last week’s announcement from Downing Street that staff should stop going into the office unless it was absolutely necessary has, largely, not gone down well.
“If staff are shielding or are frightened, then we wouldn’t expect them to work from the office, but I don’t think it’s in the long-term interests of our business to conduct ourselves like this,” the chairman said. “There’s more productivity in the office.”
From tomorrow, workers must work from home where possible as part of the prime minister’s Plan B to fight Covid in England. The move has plunged businesses into uncertainty, with bosses wondering whether staff will be left working remotely for months to come.
“The jury is still out,” said Alex Chesterman, chief executive of Cazoo. “Some people here are saying this is last year all over again and we’re heading back into months of lockdown. Others feel like: if working from home for a while succeeds in curbing the virus, then it could be very, very positive.
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“It is just impossible to know at this stage.”
He has told office-based staff to work from home unless absolutely necessary and beefed up Covid protocols for those planning to come in. Its 3,900 staff are now obliged to take temperature tests each morning, follow a one-way system in the office, wear masks and not have meetings. “We always err on the side of caution,” said Chesterman.
Diageo, which employs 4,500 people in the UK, has advised office staff to work from home from tomorrow if they can. However, it will keep its offices open for any staff who find working at home a challenge.
And in an email to employees on Friday, banking giant Citi said its offices in London would remain “fully open” for those who felt they could not perform their roles effectively from home. “In addition, anyone who feels their health and wellbeing would normally benefit from coming into the office is able to do so,” it said.
Goldman Sachs has told employees who want to make continued “use of the office” in Plumtree Court, central London, as well as in Birmingham or Milton Keynes, that it premises would remain open.
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Mark Read, chief executive of the FTSE 100 advertising giant WPP, said the long-term plan was to have people in the office for between three and four days a week.
“We’re going to be very flexible in how we accommodate people but I think offices are central to a creative, collaborative company — and therefore that’s what we want to encourage,” he said.
Rather than relying on government instructions about getting back to the office, however, Read said that staff needed to be “inspired”, adding that the advice from ministers was “very contradictory”.
A key fear now is that the work-from-home advice will continue well into the new year — and hurt business operations. “There is no question that for certain activities, whether it’s collaboration or creativity, or solving problems ... nothing can replace face-to-face working,” said Tracy Blackwell, chief executive of the Pension Insurance Corporation. “If it’s just Christmas and New Year, it’s one thing. If it goes on any longer, our business will be fine — it just makes everything more difficult.”
There are some business chiefs who are running out of patience. Julian Dunkerton, chief executive of fashion retailer Superdry, said it was “time to get on with life”.
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“It would be more sensible to say, ‘If you haven’t been vaccinated, stay at home. If you have been vaccinated, then carry on as normal,’” he said. “The vaccinated need to be treated differently to those who aren’t ... that’s the way Europe is going. We can’t keep taking a blanket approach like this.”
Others have taken matters into their own hands. Charlie Mullins, founder of Pimlico Plumbers, has advised other business owners to ignore the latest guidance. “All this ‘it’s more productive to work from home’ nonsense — it’s not more productive,” said Mullins. “I’ve got people ringing me up, saying they just can’t deal with working from home. I think people have got to put a block on it.”