Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Financial servicesWorking from homeCoronavirusLatest NewsFlexible working

Barclays chief executive: Flexible working will become the norm

by Jo Faragher 29 Apr 2020
by Jo Faragher 29 Apr 2020 One of Barclays' offices in Canary Wharf, London
Shutterstock
One of Barclays' offices in Canary Wharf, London
Shutterstock

Barclays chief executive Jes Staley has claimed that office blocks housing thousands of workers could become a thing of the past – and that flexible working will become the norm.

Staley said in a press conference on Monday that “the notion of putting 7,000 people in a building” could be consigned to history and that, as employers adjust to the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, there will be more remote and dispersed working.

Flexible working and coronavirus

Working from home: do staff have suitable equipment?

Leading a flexible working team

‘Household, we have a problem’: Learning to work at home

The lasting effects of coronavirus on HR and business

He added that the fact that around 70,000 Barclays staff were now working remotely showed that it was possible to keep even a complex organisation such as a bank running smoothly, despite not being in the same office.

The company has not had to furlough any staff, saying that all employees were needed “on hand” to support customers during the crisis.

The bank’s branch network could be used as ‘mini-offices’ for any employees from call centre workers to investment bankers, he suggested.

Barclays will soon begin to re-open offices in Asia, which was first hit by the pandemic – but not all staff will return at once. “This is going to happen over a pretty long period of time,” Staley added. “This is not going to be a light switch.”

In re-opening its Canary Wharf offices in London there could be practical limitations in returning to work once lockdown has eased. “How many people can work in this building if you limit the number of people in an elevator to two at a time? It’s that sort of thing,” he said.

Mark Read, chief executive of marketing and advertising giant WPP, has echoed Staley’s predictions.

He said employees returning to work would be at “substantially lower capacity with enhanced safety measures”. The company employs 106,000 staff.

In WPP’s China office, he added, around 10% of staff who previously came into the office are now working from home now that the lockdown has been lifted.

“The number one question I get in the town hall sessions I have is will there be more flexible working after [coronavirus],” he said.

“The safety of our staff is our number one priority. There is the issue of safety in getting to work, crowding on public transport, as well as working from home. At WPP we are fortunate that we can work from home, it has been seamless really.”

Earlier this month, a survey by Visier found that many workers are not so confident that they will continue to be able to work from home once the pandemic has passed. Almost half of respondents said they expected a return to limited flexible working policies once the coronavirus lockdown ends.

Jo Faragher
Jo Faragher

Jo Faragher has been an employment and business journalist for 20 years. She regularly contributes to Personnel Today and writes features for a number of national business and membership magazines. Jo is also the author of 'Good Work, Great Technology', published in 2022 by Clink Street Publishing, charting the relationship between effective workplace technology and productive and happy employees. She won the Willis Towers Watson HR journalist of the year award in 2015 and has been highly commended twice.

previous post
Reduced hours for furloughed staff would aid recovery
next post
British Airways to make 12,000 staff redundant

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

Police Federation discriminated against officers bringing pension claim

8 Jun 2023

CIPD’s Peter Cheese: ‘HR shouldn’t be afraid to...

8 Jun 2023

HCM trends and pain points – time to...

8 Jun 2023

AI could boost headcount and skills, recruiter predicts

8 Jun 2023

Employers hit by payroll cyberattack receive ultimatum

7 Jun 2023

Personnel Today Awards 2023: entry deadline extended

7 Jun 2023

Oxfam video depicting ‘JK Rowling’ with Terf badge...

7 Jun 2023

CBI members vote to support renewal plans

6 Jun 2023

Government responds to umbrella company call for evidence

6 Jun 2023

Gender pensions gap is more a ‘gaping chasm’

6 Jun 2023

  • The HR Bundle: Your one-stop guide to building a successful global HR Department PROMOTED | Get your hands on Deel’s free HR bundle...Read more
  • The Benefits of an Employee Assistance Programme PROMOTED | EAPs support employees in a range of ways...Read more
  • Intergenerational working and how to manage up and down the generations PROMOTED | The benefits and challenges of intergenerational workplaces...Read more
  • Bereavement in the workplace: How training can help HR get it right PROMOTED | HR professionals play an essential role...Read more
  • UK workforce mental wellbeing needs PROMOTED | The mental wellbeing support employers are providing misses the mark...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2023

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2023 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+