Guidance on working from home will be relaxed within days after Scotland continued to make progress in the battle against Omicron.
Nicola Sturgeon said employers will be asked to consider “hybrid” working for staff - a combination of being at home and in the office.
This is different from the current guidance which backs home working when it is practical.
The First Minister made the announcement in Holyrood.
WFH guidance was strengthened late last year in response to the crisis over the Omicron covid variant.
However, businesses have been critical of the move due to fewer people being in town and city centres to spend money.
In her statement to Holyrood, Sturgeon said: “The current guidance on working from home, strengthened in response to Omicron, will be now be updated.
“Instead of recommending home working whenever practical, the new guidance will pave the way for a phased return to the office.
“It will recommend that, from Monday 31st January, employers should consider implementing hybrid working – following appropriate guidance - with workers spending some time in the office and some time at home.”
She added: “We would not expect to see a wholesale return to the office next week – indeed, given that the level of infection, though falling, remains high, a mass return at this stage is likely to be counter productive and set progress back.
“But we know there are many benefits to both employees and employers, and to the economy as a whole, in at least a partial return to the office at this stage.
“Indeed many businesses successfully implemented hybrid working last autumn.
“And so as part of a phased return to the office, we will again encourage employers to consider hybrid working, and look to them to determine how best to manage this transition in consultation with workers and trade unions.”
Post-Christmas restrictions like limits on attendance at indoor and outdoor public events, nightclub closures and the requirement for table service in pubs and restaurants were lifted earlier this month.
In an upbeat statement, Sturgeon said the restrictions had “made a difference” and had “helped send Omicron into reverse”.
She said: “This progress is real and I am hopeful it can be sustained.”
The daily statistics showed 1,392 people are in hospital with Covid - 43 fewer than yesterday.
Forty nine people are in intensive care - four fewer than the day before.
She said: “Although cases remain high – as in many countries around the world – the data from the past week paints another broadly positive picture.”
To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here.
