Post-Christmas blues as UK bosses try to turn back clock on hybrid working
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Amazon mandates full five days and BT and Asda want staff in the office three times a week – but not everyone is convinced. The post-festive return to work in the dark days of January is never easy, but this new year is shaping up to be tougher than usual for UK workers. Not only must they brave days of severe cold and ice, but many face the end of post-pandemic hybrid working.
![[Joanna Partridge]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2020/08/24/Joanna_Partridge,_L.png?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
A range of big employers are hauling their teams back to the office, with Amazon issuing the strictest mandate, demanding staff attend in person five days a week. Such orders are provoking fresh battles between employees and their bosses, who believe staff need to be brought together to foster collaboration, creativity and a sense of belonging.
While the luxury of being able to work remotely is not possible for all jobs, it has increasingly become viewed as a right in the almost five years since Covid lockdowns forced staff to carry out their roles from their dining tables, spare bedrooms or sheds at the bottom of the garden, with many arguing they are just as productive at home.
While Amazon’s return to pre-Covid attendance expectations makes it something of an outlier, it is not alone in prioritising physical presence. As of 1 January, BT is requiring its 50,000 office-based employees across the UK and several other countries to attend three days a week in what it calls a “three together, two wherever” approach. Workers at the telecoms company have been told that office entry and exit data will be used to monitor attendance.
