Working from home
(Picture: PA Archive)More men than women in London never want to work from home once the Covid crisis is over, a new poll has revealed.
The YouGov survey published on Monday found that before the pandemic just over half of working men and six in ten working women in the capital had never WFH.
Asked what their preferred working situation would be once the crisis is over, 31 per cent of male working Londoners opted for “never working from home”.
This compared to 21 per cent for female workers in the city.
The proportion of women who want to WFH some of the time has jumped from 25 per cent doing so before Covid struck to 50 per cent wishing to in future.
As for working from home the whole time, the figure has risen from 12 per cent to 23 per cent.
Among men the picture is less dramatic.
Just over four in ten (41 per cent) say they would like to work from home some of the time, up from 31 per cent, and the whole of the time the figure has increased from 13 per cent to 23 per cent.
Currently, 35 per cent of workers in Londoners are WFH the whole time, 27 per cent some of the time and 32 per cent not doing so at all.
Just over eight in ten of the group of largely “professional” workers in London, which includes many office employees, would like to work from home after the coronavirus crisis, 56 per cent some of the time and 25 per cent the whole of the time, up from 31 per cent and 15 per cent respectively before the pandemic.
Fifteen per cent would prefer never to work from home in future.
Among the largely “blue collar” working group, 28 per cent want to WFH in future some of the time, up from 22 per cent, 17 per cent the whole of the time, an increase from eight per cent, and 47 per cent never.
Workers in inner London are more likely to want to work from home some of the time, 51 per cent compared to 43 per cent for outer London areas.
But marginally more outer London workers, 25 per cent, want to WFH the whole time, with a figure of 19 per cent for more central boroughs.
Just under half of workers aged 18 to 24, and 25 to 49, want to work from home some of the time after the pandemic, with older people more likely to say never work from home.
Matthew Smith, Head of Data Journalism for YouGov, said: “Many businesses in the capital that rely on footfall have been concerned that London’s workers are going to remain housebound after the nation has shaken off the pandemic.
“The results of this poll suggest that while their worst fears are unlikely to come to pass, neither will the capital experience the same bustle that it did before the coronavirus struck.”
He added: “Most London workers say they never worked from home prior to the pandemic; just a quarter say they want to do so once everything is over. One in five want to work from home full time after the pandemic, up from one in eight who say they did so prior to March 2020.
“Almost half of the capital’s workforce want to take up a hybrid approach, making their way in to the office only on some days. YouGov has been tracking attitudes on this topic since 2020, and during that time they have not budged - Londoners seem to have long since made up their minds on what they want for their work-life balance.”
He also stressed: “The results also show that an exodus from the capital does not seem to be in the works, with very few Londoners accelerating any plans they had to leave from prior to the pandemic.”
The poll found little change in how many years people were intending to live in London, from before the pandemic to now.
Forty per cent said they planned, before the Covid crisis, to live in London for the rest of their life, a figure which is now 35 per cent.
* YouGov interviewed 1,115 adults in London between January 7 and 10. Data are weighted
