Far fewer people are now working from their organisation's office
The majority of the industry is working from their organisation’s office for two days a week or fewer, PP’s latest Pensions Buzz poll reveals.
The research found around one-third of respondents - some 34% - said they were working fully from home, with perhaps only ad-hoc trips into an office for meetings.
Some 15% of respondents said they are now working one day a week from the office.
A further 18% said they were working two days a week from the office - with one-sixth of these (3% of respondents) saying they worked largely on Tuesdays and Thursdays and the remaining five-sixths (15%) saying they worked a different pattern or the two days they worked varied considerably.
A total of 3% of respondents said they were working three days a week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
A quarter of respondents said they had different working patterns, however, with many saying they worked three days a week in the office (on days other than Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays) and 3-4 days a week also being a popular choice.
Only 6% of respondents said they were working full-time from the office - although it is to be noted that around one-third of respondents were trustees, meaning their ‘main' job could be in a role outside pensions that required a greater presence in a company facility.
Some respondents noted that the ability to work remotely was a positive.
One said: "We've found as a trustee board that Teams works very well - we don't need to come from Milton Keynes and the South Coast to meet in London."
Another added: "We have not discussed requirements for going back into the office but the expectation is that WFH is the norm with visits to the office where face-to-face events are required."
Yet, despite the fact that hybrid and remote working was becoming a reality for many, some respondents lamented the diminution of the office environment.
One said: "The novelty of working from home has well and truly worn off. And, while hybrid working can seem like the ‘best of all worlds', I'm not sure that people starting their careers or starting new jobs in the past two years would agree - they only ‘meet' their colleagues on Zoom; social interaction dies down; and learning on the job is much harder.
"Those who sit back in their second homes in the Cotswolds, Cornwall or Corfu dialling in to meetings and enjoying the hybrid experience do a dis-service to those who come in to a half-empty office or work from their bedrooms."
Another added: "Zoom, Teams, webinar and so-on have enabled me to attend more functions and meeting from home - I do, however, miss the personal relationship with fellow workers that one can develop by being in the office."
