Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • 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
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • 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
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

CoronavirusLatest NewsEconomics, government & businessCommutingFurlough

More employees now commuting than at any stage of pandemic

by Adam McCulloch 18 Sep 2020
by Adam McCulloch 18 Sep 2020 Photo: Shutterstock
Photo: Shutterstock

Nearly two thirds of working adults have returned to commuting to work, according to latest government figures, although many are only doing so part-time.

Against a backdrop of fears over a new UK lockdown, the Office for National Statistics revealed in its latest Coronavirus and the Latest Indicators for the UK Economy and Society report that 62% of working adults had commuted to work last week. The proportion working from home remained at 20% for the second consecutive week.

This was the first time that the proportion of working adults travelling to work had risen above 60% since the weekly survey began in early April.

Coronavirus

One in 10 unemployed in Blackpool, Hull and Birmingham

Starmer calls for ‘firing and rehiring’ ban as unemployment grows

Covid-19 and recession: Is redundancy the only option?

Autumn redundancies in the UK could exceed 450,000

Although the proportion of people travelling to work had increased, the ONS found that 10% of the workforce remained on furlough leave.

It added that 20% of people continued to work exclusively from home and its Business Impact of Coronavirus Survey revealed that 11% of businesses were at a moderate or severe risk of insolvency. Half of businesses (48%) said they were at low risk, 30% said they were at no risk and 11% were not sure about their risk of insolvency.

The commuter data included people who may be travelling to work exclusively, or who are doing a mixture of commuting and working from home, the ONS said.

Road traffic, a rough indicator of economic activity, was still below February levels but was trending upward the report found.

Despite momentum building towards returning to offices, new research released on Thursday by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) suggests that working from home could be a permanent fixture for many, following the pandemic. The apparent discrepancy can be explained by the fact that the ONS recorded individual trips to the office, so people could still be working at home most of the time.

According to the CIPD survey of 1,000 employers, 37% think staff will regularly avoid the journey into the office following Covid-19 – up from just 18% before the pandemic.

CIPD chief executive Peter Cheese said: “The step-change shift to home working to adapt to lockdowns has taught us all a lot about how we can be flexible in ways of working in the future.

“Employers have learnt that, if supported and managed properly, home working can be as productive and innovative as office working and we can give more opportunity for people to benefit from better work-life balance.”

However, he said it did not suit everyone and that organisations would have to design working arrangements around people’s needs while “also meeting the needs of the business”.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

 

Latest HR job opportunities on Personnel Today

Browse more human resources jobs

Adam McCulloch

Adam McCulloch first worked for Personnel Today magazine in the early 1990s as a sub editor. He rejoined Personnel Today as a writer in 2017, covering all aspects of HR but with a special interest in diversity, social mobility and industrial relations. He has ventured beyond the HR realm to work as a freelance writer and production editor in sectors including travel (The Guardian), aviation (Flight International), agriculture (Farmers' Weekly), music (Jazzwise), theatre (The Stage) and social work (Community Care). He is also the author of KentWalksNearLondon. Adam first became interested in industrial relations after witnessing an exchange between Arthur Scargill and National Coal Board chairman Ian McGregor in 1984, while working as a temp in facilities at the NCB, carrying extra chairs into a conference room!

previous post
John Lewis scraps staff bonus
next post
MPs to investigate UK firms’ links with Chinese exploitation of Uyghurs

You may also like

Restaurant tips should be included in holiday pay

21 May 2025

Fewer workers would comply with a return-to-office mandate

21 May 2025

Redefining leadership: From competence to inclusion

21 May 2025

Pay awards in real terms could fall for...

21 May 2025

Ryanair demands flight attendants pay back salary increase

21 May 2025

Consultation launched after Supreme Court ‘sex’ ruling

20 May 2025

Uncertainty over law hampering legal use of medical...

20 May 2025

Black security manager awarded £360k after decade of...

20 May 2025

Employers ‘worryingly’ ignorant about stress risk assessments

20 May 2025

UK and EU agree to collaborate on ‘youth...

19 May 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...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 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • 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
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+