Forget the recycling of the daily commute into more hours spent on the job at the kitchen table. White-collar workers appear to have failed to convince their bosses that they are at least as productive at home as they are in the office. In the minds of Europe’s bosses at least, work from home has peaked. Champions of workplace flexibility are going to have to deploy better arguments than A-B comparisons of output.
A May survey of some 675 board-level executives at European firms released by analysts at UBS Group AG found that 40% expected staff to work their full week in the office in the next two to five years. While the figure was 52% before the pandemic, it’s up from 37% in December’s survey.
