A survey by Accenture has found almost three-quarters of financial sector workers in the UK would prefer a flexible working policy once the pandemic has come to an end.
The survey was conducted amongst 1,400 UK financial sector employees across the banking, insurance and capital markets sectors. The results come at a time when many businesses and workers are starting to prepare to return to the office as the effects of Covid-19 begin to gradually lessen.
According to the research, 69% of workers would prefer to work two days a week or less in the office, while only 8% – or one in ten – would prefer to return to the office for five days a week.
Up to 24% of workers would prefer to work entirely from home once a full return to the office is possible, which is one in four of all respondents. In addition, 57% of respondents agreed that their workplace could not return to what was classed as the pre-Covid ‘normal’ while 39% would waive compensation if they were able to work fully remotely.
Many of those surveyed saw working from home as a positive experience – with 57% of respondents claiming they had been more productive working at home and 71% agreeing that foregoing their commute to work had provided them with more free time.
In contrast, however, one in four – 27% – felt the additional pressure from Covid-19 had not been taken into consideration by their employer, while 26% felt disconnected or forgotten by their place of work.
Accenture UK & Ireland banking strategy lead Laura O’Sullivan said, “As financial services firms develop their future working from home policies, the findings of this research signal loud and clear that the majority of employees at all levels want the pre-pandemic routine to be a thing of the past.”
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