Slow crawl’ of workers back in offices on Fridays as firms move away from working from home

Research finds the number of UK postings advertising that Fridays can be worked from home has fallen

JOB SEARCH ENGINE ADZUNA FOUND NUMBER OF UK POSTINGS ADVERTISING THAT FRIDAYS CAN BE WORKED FROM HOME FELL LAST MONTH

PEXELS / VLADA KARPOVICH

JOANNA HODGSON1 DAY AGO

London workers are starting to attend their offices on Fridays, new figures suggest, but the return is a “slow crawl back rather than a rush” to pre-pandemic levels.

The hybrid working revolution that followed Covid lockdowns has resulted in London looking most busy from Tuesday to Thursdays but with the last day of the working week often very quiet. However, data compiled for the Standard suggests that employers are now looking for more staff to come in on Fridays.

Job search engine Adzuna found the number of UK postings advertising that Fridays can be worked from home fell to 123 last month.

That was a dip on 135 recorded in January 2023. During the same period the number of recruitment adverts offering “early finish Fridays” dropped to 396 from 429.

Adzuna co-founder Andrew Hunter says: “Fewer companies are advertising that employees can work from home on Fridays or clock off early for the weekend, but we’re seeing a slow crawl back to Fridays in the office, rather than a rush.”

Property giant Landsec, which owns just over six million sq ft of office space of which around 95 per cent is in London, revealed in January that the numbers coming into the office across its portfolio on a Friday were rising.

A spokesman for the developer said: “Whilst midweek is undoubtedly the most popular time for people to come together... the amount of unique daily turnstile tap-ins at our workspaces continues to grow across the week.”

Last week City employer Deutsche Bank banned staff from working at home on Friday and the following Monday. L’Oreal, which has a major UK headquarters in west London, said this month that staff would have to come in at least twice a week.

Last month Mayor Sadiq Khan announced he is to scrap peak fares on the Tube on Fridays for three months from March to boost passenger numbers. Many companies only have a core team in the office on Fridays. However, the Standard highlighted that multiple issues would have to be resolved before cheaper Friday fares can be introduced.