Flexible the new normal as half of ALL Londoners now hybrid workers with pandemic routine ‘here to stay’

Michiel WillemsSeptember 26, 2022

2 minutes read

More than half of London’s workers are spending at least one day a week at home, according to new government figures shared with City A.M. this morning.

In a government survey of nearly 2000 firms in the city, 32.2 per cent said their workers were in the office one or two days a week, while a further 25.3 per cent were in three to four days a week.

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Across London, 22.9 per cent staff never work at home, the study found.

The 57.5 per cent of staff now hybrid working in London is above the UK average of 42.7 per cent and by far the highest in the country.

The Office for National Statistics data was gathered in the two weeks to August 21, and surveyed a total of 9207 firms across the UK.

Discussing the figures with City A.M. this morning, hybrid presentation consultant Gavin Brown, director of UK firm Speak With Impact and a former shadow finance secretary. said the new numbers showed habits which developed as a result of the pandemic “were here to stay.”

Brown, who was also the MSP for Lothian between 2007 and 2016, added that there were opportunities for London businesses who embraced the hybrid world to broaden their horizons, as well as for individual employees who excelled in a hybrid environment.

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“These figures show us that now accounts for more than half of all workers in London, and it illustrates just how drastically things have changed in a couple of years,” he said.

“This transformation in working and business environment must be adjusted to, and holds a great deal of opportunity.”

Brown added: “But pitching, collaborating and performing in a hybrid world requires an entirely different set of skills which, prior to the Covid pandemic, almost nobody had.

“If businesses can excel in this hybrid world by maximising in-person and virtual opportunities in tandem, it could provide a real boost to our economy and to individual prospects generally,” he continued.