One in four bank and insurance workers want five days a week from home

One in four financial services workers would work from home permanently if they were given the choice, a major consultancy has said.

Accenture said that of 1,400 employees in UK banks, insurance and capital markets, around 69% said they would prefer to spend two or fewer days in the office every week.

Just 8% of those asked in the firm’s poll said they would be in favour of returning to the office for five days every week.

Yet six out of 10 workers said they did not know if their employer will start to offer flexible working even after the pandemic restrictions end.

“As financial services firms develop their future working from home policies, the findings of this research signal loud and clear that the majority of employees at all levels want the pre-pandemic routine to be a thing of the past,” said Accenture’s Laura O’Sullivan.

“With such support for a more flexible approach, the focus needs to move not only to where employees are doing their work, but how they are doing their work. It’s about making employees productive wherever they are.

“As such, there is a big opportunity to reinvent physical workspaces, complemented by digital environments, to drive more collaboration and support workforce culture post-pandemic.

“We are only at the start of the changes that will be needed in tooling, leadership behaviours and employee experience to make these new ways of working a long-term solution for thriving teams.”

The survey was performed by YouGov between June 11-16.