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NatWest said just over a third of its 59,300 UK full-time employees would continue to work remotely. Some 55% of its staff would adopt a hybrid model of working between the office and home.
NatWest chief executive, Alison Rose, said leaders would hold conversations with staff over the summer about which category they fall into.
"I would say that we've busted the myth that jobs need to be done in a certain way," she previously told staff. "We have learnt new ways of working and it's important we carry those learnings forward."
I can understand someone working in central London being pleased not to have an hour's commute every day, but I do wonder if those people who see this as a workplace panacea aren't being a little naive. If you can work from home, so can someone else in another country. In the 90's we saw the almost complete export of call centres to countries with much lower wage costs - I reckon with banking, finance, a lot of retail, all going online, it will be a lot easier for the likes of Alison Rose & Nat West to do the same.
Financial Services is highly regulated, though, so maybe some roles can't be carried out overseas.
I'm starting back at Nationwide next week and whilst they have remote working, you have to remain in the UK (incl. Nor'n Ireland).
Saying that, my wife is at Lloyds and one member of her team works from Thailand!
That will be the rule anywhere with a tax dept. The payroll tax and social security issues with allowing a workforce to work where they like can be a nightmare- not to mention the possiblity of the company itself having a corporate tax liability in a country where their employees work. And if you don't spot that liability- in some countries that is a criminal offence, not just a matter of financial penalties.Originally Posted by The Hooded Claw
I agree it's very short sighted from these businesses. The high Street is in decline enough I think keeping people at home will further destroy another sector. Yes it will be good for emissions and road congestion but as a relatively small country we are only such a small contributor to the problem.
Ive been working from home and I'm starting to get used to it but for those younger and looking back on myself being surrounded by people in an office everyday really helped my confidence as a young adult.
Just say it, truth is the people who want to work from home are slackers
The high street is in decline because online companies can charge lower costs as they don't pay tax. The high street is in decline because people don't have time to go shopping because they all have to work in the gig economy jobs for these online companies to make ends meet.
Basic income, mass automation and removal of middle management bullsh1t jobs. People will have disposable income and time, high street will be alive
Guarantee this won’t last long. We tried it in my company 6 years ago. It was ok at first but after a year or so people started taking the piss and it caused a huge amount of ill feeling with people who had to go into the office everyday
One person very nearly got sacked for posting pictures on Facebook when he should have been working
Eventually we all had to go back to office working
We’ve now written it into our contracts. It’s improved efficiency through giving people more flexibility, which is really important for a global company. I’ve heard the phrase too busy to go to work a few times recently, which applies to me as well. Some days I work 16 hours, the next day I can do 3 or 4.
TheI’d work every other day if I was you Des
Why should Natwest care about the highstreet?
It depends obviously on the nature of the job itself, but also on the culture of the company and the quality of management. People now have different expectations and priorities around work, yet some boardrooms and managers are still stuck in the 1970s.
For instance, my current company promotes autonomy and is more preoccupied with the quality and punctuality of my output than how many hours I've sat in front of my laptop for. My previous employer, on the other hand, spied on staff and prioritised suspicion over support (as a colleague said at the time: if you have to monitor people to ensure that they're doing their job, then you've already failed as a manager).
With that in mind, I'd say there's still ground to be made for a lot of companies, but the flexibility of remote/hybrid working is a big thing for younger generations and I expect it to now be the norm going forward. Companies will have to adapt to what people want and change their attitudes, or risk losing out on talent, especially in sectors like tech and IT.
Well, there must be an element of truth in that, however from what little I've gleaned from people who are WFH is that they're 'monitored' on their daily activity - not exactly my idea of fun. The extrapolation from that is my main point, ie, these are jobs that could in many cases be easily moved overseas.
Lest we forget that this time last year you were predicting hardly anybody would have a job left by now anyway.
I'm waiting for the big data breach or hack due folk working from home effecting the likes of big companies
What? You don't think people working from home was always on the cards? Do you seriously think people going to offices (increasing costs of renting for companies) is going to save jobs? People working from home is going to save jobs. Funny thing is, I just got a job in London, on London wages, but I will be based in South Wales. I may have to go to London now and then and if it gets crap, I can apply for a job anywhere in the UK without leaving my house or moving the family, or spending time away.
We live once. Why waste it in a car burning dinosaurs, listening to Radio 5 and looking at someone's bumper in the pouring rain? Just because you are scared of change, doesn't mean it won't happen.
Christ, where are you posting from? 1938?
I've worked from home for years, can start earlier, get more done. The office was where slacking happened. Meetings for no reason, chats in the kitchen, chats in the car park, chats in the smoking shelter, chats at the desk. My company will know if I am slacking because things won't get done.
Such hacks are not down to location, but poor security infrastructure at a company. Someone working at home with RSA Tokens, Private Networks and strong passwords are not the reason for a hack.
When I worked in an office, I had one bloke next to me watching Cricket, one girl opposite on Facebook and another bloke fiddling the flexi system. People slack, let them. I keep my head down, do the work, and progress.
The same highstreet where huge companies like Debenhams swallowed up independent retailers you mean? The same sector that is now crying foul because of retail evolution and bigger sharks like Amazon, you mean? The same sector that didn't adapt to on-line retail in time, you mean?
The highstreet is failing because it is expensive, unnecessary, and outdated.
It is actually the other way around: they can afford to run at a loss or at no profit, and as such don't pay tax.
The "no tax" thing is really a byproduct of the actual problem. The actual problem is the US multinationals can and do run at a loss to kill off competition, because they can afford to. And tax aside: online retail has a lower cost base than bricks and mortar retail anyway, so even if an online retailer and a traditional retailer targeted the same profit margin, the online retailer could charge a lower price and so over time you'd see the high street wither (these are all obviously very general comments!).
But the large online retailers - well, Amazon - killing off markets because they can afford it is the biggest problem. The percentage of shopping journeys that start on Amazon is frightening. The global response is a decade too late/slow. Corporate income taxes are driven by profit. How do governments respond to companies who's policy is to run parts of its business at no profit for years on end?
"Hey guys, we need you back in the office"
"Why?"
"Because Greggs are struggling without office workers coming in, it's a loss to the economy"
"But, I still buy lunch everyday. Just not at Gregg's. I buy them at John's place in my town"
"Ah, but there's the problem. Greggs has a CEO who is a funder of political parties. What he says goes"
Sod that.
Similar story, started a European role back in April 2020, home based but expectancy that I'd be travelling once a week around Western Europe and away a couple of nights a week. We adapted to COVID-19 very quickly and now anyone outside of a physical operation is working at home and we'll likely stay that way, with occasional travel. Similarly many roles I see advertised are now UK-based with occasional office visit as opposed to a physical location. Can only be a good thing.
I've loved being at home more and spending time with family, and the fact that as long as the work gets done to deadlines, I can do it when I like. Obvious caveats around what sector you're in, but for back office or commercial functions, can only think it's a good thing.
It's not necessary that binary in deciding whether to go into work or to work from home: many people now appreciate the advantage of a hybrid system whereby we can have a mixture of both options.
I think it’s a fair point about the possibility of UK home workers being replaced by cheaper, foreign Labour, but I worked from home for three and a half days a week all through the noughties and had to work to an increased target as a trade off for doing so. I’ll not lie, there’d be afternoons where I’d be sat down drinking a cup of tea and watching a test match, but only because I’d worked really hard in the morning to clear my desk so to speak. Also, I couldn’t nip out to do some shopping/go for a pint etc because my phone would ring in the office and so they would have known if I’d gone out. Working from home isn’t for everyone, but I was grateful for it and I used to like going into the office a lot more than I did when I was there every day, but because of the “social side” of office life, I got a lot more done at home than I ever did in the office.
I think we'll look at a hybrid model which will just about keep everyone happy.
But if they want people enthusiastic about returning to the office they should consider why people don't want to. For those using the road system I'm sure they're sick of endless traffic and for those using public transport I'm sure they're sick of the cost, the crowding and randomness of when the service will turn up.
Lot's of good reasons to go back in but there's certainly things that can be improved upon.
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