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The boss of Big Four accountancy firm PwC has revealed that he expects thousands of its staff to never return to the office on a full-time basis even after the coronavirus has passed.
According to The Mail on Sunday, the firm is preparing for the majority of its 22,000 staff to continue to work from home at least on a part-time basis. As much as 60% of its staff would alternate between a couple of days at home, and some days from its London offices or one of its 18 regional offices.
Ellis told the paper: “There’s no question that lockdown has done away with presenteeism. It has shown many business leaders that their people can be productive, engaged and happy working from home.
“I had never worked from home before the pandemic, but I can now see myself working from home one or two days a week in the future, which is a big change. I think that will be the same for most people.”
Earlier this month, Ellis told The Sunday Times that around 5,000 of its 22,000 staff in the UK had spent some time in the office towards the end of July, adding that he hoped that figure would increase to at least 11,000 by the end of next month.
It comes after prime minister Boris Johnson said that it would be up to firms to decide if they would require employees to return to the office from 1 August.
Johnson said: “Instead of government telling people to work from home, we are going to give employers more discretion, and ask them to make decisions about how their staff can work safely.”
