Why London must get back to work

The commute is often unreliable, expensive and crowded. It is easy enough to understand why so many of London’s 5 million strong workforce are so reluctant to go back to the office. There is a catch, however. Working from home is costing the British economy a huge amount of lost output. In reality, the UK can’t afford for Londoners to carry on WFH for much longer. 

According to a study just published by the Centre for Cities, London is one of the slowest major cities in the world to go back to the office full-time. Of the six cities it studied, London had the second lowest attendance rate, with full-time staff spending just 2.7 days on-site. That was similar to Sydney and Toronto, but well behind the 3.1 average in New York City, or the 3.5 days in Paris – hardly a place known for its hard work. More than a quarter of workers in London only make it into the office once or twice a week, and only 62 per cent manage three whole days, compared with 80 per cent in Paris.