London Office Workers Demand $7,000 Payoff Before Returning To Office

Mateus Research ^ | 7-22-21 | Tyler Durden

[Brookhaven]

"Freedom Day" has come and gone, and yet the small businesses and retail shops flanking London's retail district are still struggling as the number of white-collar workers flocking to the City and other parts of the city remains well below its pre-pandemic level. One reason is that British workers are digging in their heels and demanding a pay raise or some other form of compensation in exchange for returning to the office.

According to surveys from YouGov, and Locatee, office workers want pay raises equivalent to the cost of some annual railway season tickets to return to their desks full-time after the pandemic.

With COVID-19 restrictions leaving many offices empty, white-collar staff have spent 16 months mostly working from home. Just 17% now say they actively want a full-time return to the office, research for workplace analytics firm Locatee shows.

As rising wages for hourly workers fail to keep pace with inflation, just 17% of white collar workers say they would actively want a full-time return to the office. However, 43% told YouGov that a cash incentive might help change their minds. In London, the average worker who said cash would be a suitable incentive asked for £5,100 (just under $7K), which covers the annual cost of a railway ticket between London and the commuter town of Turnbridge Wells in Kent.

According to Bloomberg, the survey results "underscore the difficulties in engineering a post-pandemic 'new normal'. Most firms are already planning on recalling staff, but some of the big banks in the UK and Europe have been less eager than their American counterparts. The rise of the Delta variant has also prompted some large companies to reconsider their timeline.

"The appetite for remote working will remain high for the foreseeable future," said Thomas Kessler, CEO of Locatee, a purveyor of "workplace insights". “However, the importance of physical office space in underpinning company culture should not be underestimated, particularly after a year of reduced colleague interaction."

Nearly one-third of people presently looking for work now expect to work from home at least two days each week. Meanwhile, roughly 24% of companies are standing by their demands that workers return to the office full time. Younger workers are typically more eager to return to the office (where they're more likely to enjoy socializing with other younger workers). But for older workers with a family or children, the preferences are clear - and pretty soon, employers might be forced to settle for a 'hybrid' set up - whether they like it or not.

[Brookhaven]

• Just 17% say they want a full-time return to the office.
• Nearly 1/3 of people looking for work expect to work from home.
• 24% of companies are standing by their demands that workers return to the office full time.
• Younger workers are more eager to return to the office.
• Older workers with a family or children want to work from home.

It's interesting that younger people want to return to the office. Will be this be yet another reason for companies to engage in age discrimination?

[wildcard_redneck]

"Will be this be yet another reason for companies to engage in age discrimination?

Like they need more reasons. The insurance costs mandated by the government make hiring older workers very expensive all by themselves.

[bgill]

Younger workers spend all day texting. What’s the productivity between young and older workers?

[jmacusa]

I can tell you in the hospital I work in it’s about nil.

Every young kid I see from RN’s to mop jockeys are on those damn thing every minute of the day. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been walking down a hallway or rounding a corner and some idiot is walking along, oblivious to everything around them texting away.

Some never even look up from what they’re doing.

[MercyFlush]

The government and the media in the UK have spent the past 18 months terrifying and traumatizing the public and they’re now surprised that people are too terrified and traumatized to return to work?

This is me laughing!

[minnesota_bound]

Our new manager is based in Mexico while half the office is hired by a temp agency for new people and scattered to several eastern states. I am in Calif and I do not know if we will go back to the office. What is the point as even the manager will not be there. There are only 4 of us left out of 11 to begin with and the others in other states.

[minnesota_bound]

We have a few dozen of us but only 4 in the office that had 11. As the others left the temp agency hired instead for back east positions. I am glad I will retire soon and the job is probably going away and not long term for any new person.