Some office staff have worked remotely since March 2020
(Picture: PA Wire)Office staff in London are among those most willing in the UK to take a pay cut to work from home permanently, a new study from a financial services company shows.
As employers look at post-pandemic office plans, research from Hitachi Capital said over a quarter (27%) of UK office workers polled are willing to take a salary reduction, with those on a lower wage more prepared to take a hit.
The data showed 40% of Londoners willing to take a cut, compared to just 13% of office workers in the South West (see data in bold at the end).
The study also found millennials are most likely to consider taking a smaller income, followed by over 55s (25%) and 45–54-year-olds (24%) “if it meant the reduction was less than their usual travel spend and there was increased flexibility from their employer”.
After more than a year of working from home in some cases, bosses are looking at a range of future workspace options, from reducing space, to hybrid working.
Many firms have indicated they plan to offer employees a mixture of home and office hours.
Some tech giants have delayed back to office plans, including Amazon and Google. The latter’s boss Sundar Pichai told staff: “For some locations, conditions are starting to improve, yet in many parts of the world the pandemic continues to create uncertainty. Acknowledging that, we’ll extend our global voluntary return-to-office policy through January 10, 2022 to give more Googlers flexibility and choice as they ramp back.”
Hitachi’s survey said pure flexible working is the preferred option for 28% of respondents, followed by three days at home and two in a workplace.
Theresa Lindsay, group marketing director at Hitachi Capital UK, said: “The pandemic has led to a seismic shift in the way people want to work in order to effectively manage their work and home life commitments.”
Lindsay added: “Moving forward, our research clearly shows that the clamour for flexible working is so pronounced that many employees are even prepared to sacrifice their salary to achieve a better work-life balance in the long term.”
Here are the percentages of people surveyed in the Hitachi study who said they would be willing to take a pay cut to work from home permanently:
– London, 40%
– West Midlands, 36%
– East Midlands, 34%
– East, 28%
– Wales, 27%
– North East, 26%
