Employers: don't rush your staff back into the office

Employers should think carefully before summoning staff back to the office, says David Prosser.

Masked people in an office
Maybe they’d rather be working from home
(Image credit: © iStockphoto)

Plan B measures introduced to combat the spread of the Omicron variant, which included compulsory mask wearing, vaccine certificates and guidance to work from home, ended on 26 January. However, the fact that you are free to ask staff to come back to the office does not mean you have to do so, and if employees are anxious, it makes sense to tread carefully.

In fact, around half of small businesses are not planning to order a full return to the workplace in the weeks and months ahead, according to research just published by Hitachi Capital Business Finance. Some plan to stick with their current work-from-home arrangements, while others expect to move to hybrid working, with staff only expected to come in for some of their working hours.

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David Prosser
Business Columnist

David Prosser is a regular MoneyWeek columnist, writing on small business and entrepreneurship, as well as pensions and other forms of tax-efficient savings and investments. David has been a financial journalist for almost 30 years, specialising initially in personal finance, and then in broader business coverage. He has worked for national newspaper groups including The Financial Times, The Guardian and Observer, Express Newspapers and, most recently, The Independent, where he served for more than three years as business editor.