Nationwide reverses ‘work from anywhere’ policy

Nationwide Building Society appears to have abandoned its ‘work from anywhere’ policy it announced in 2021 and has told its 13,000 staff they must start coming in from early next year for at least two days a week for most.

Chief executive Debbie Crosbie this week lifted the curtain on a policy that requires staff to be in the office for at least 40% of their contract – two days a week for a full time employee.

In March 2021 the Nationwide, the UK’s largest building society, announced a “work anywhere” plan under which all employees could take control of “where they work from”.

Then chief executive Joe Garner said that workers “won’t be forced to return to an office”. However, office space would be maintained in order to foster social contact, collaboration and creativity, the firm said. Garner added: “People do want to go [to offices]. They just don’t want to be compelled to go every day.”

The new policy under Crosbie has been agreed with the Nationwide Group Staff Union and will come into force from 1 January. However, there will be a transition period to allow staff who have made major lifestyle changes such as moving home to adjust. This means it will not be enforced until 1 April 2024. Staff have been told they can apply for exceptions.

A “special issue” of the Nationwide staff magazine Rapport claimed the “requirement to work from Nationwide premises has always been a contractual obligation”.

The magazine stated the building society would be “monitoring data on access to offices to understand site utilisation and identify non-compliance with the minimum requirement”. It added that the data collected would only be used to inform discussions, and not as an “absolute measure of compliance”.

One staff member told the Guardian newspaper: “Many staff have completely changed their lives, some have moved houses, decided they could now expand their families or got pets, and so the news has been pretty upsetting. Many of us are also feeling the strain financially with the cost of living crisis and mortgages. It is a real blow.”

The Rapport magazine said that guidance issued to staff in 2022 advising staff to attend the office for at least two days a week had not been adopted “consistently”, which had resulted in “a lack of clarity and very low compliance”.

Nationwide said: “Hybrid working is an important part of Nationwide’s flexible arrangements. Colleagues are already expected to work in an office for at least one or two days per week, depending on their role. This change simply moves the minimum to two days for everyone.”

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