Morgan Stanley chief executive James Gorman’s stance on staff returning to its New York office is summed up succinctly: if you can go to a restaurant in New York city, you can come into the office. This is the latest example highlighting the disconnect between bosses who are keen for an immediate return to the office and their reluctant workforce who would prefer to retain home-working privileges. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), more than a third (36%) of people in the UK think they can keep working from home for most of the working week.
Many UK banks had expected to return staff to the office as of June 21 this year. While these plans were delayed by UK prime minister Boris Johnson’s announcement extending lockdown easing by a further four weeks, it seems that in the short- to medium-term at least, such a return is unlikely. Transmission rates of Covid-19 remain high in the country, despite the success of the vaccination programme. Public health experts predict a further strain on NHS resources this autumn owing to patients impacted by long-Covid symptoms. There is also concern over the reduced effectiveness of Covid vaccines against certain dominant strains of the virus that could lead to future spikes of patient hospitalisation. This would be further compounded by predicted high rates of influenza because of a reduction of the population’s immunity as a result of recent lockdowns.
