Business focus: FTSE 100 companies outline back to the office plans

As people across various industries continue to work from home, companies are drawing up plans on how and when to get staff back into offices as the Covid-19 lockdown eases.

The Evening Standard contacted FTSE 100 firms to find out how many UK-based office workers they have, how many are still working from home or are back in the office, and what plans there are for having most people back.

Responses from 53 companies show some already have certain employees back in buildings, with socially distanced measures in place. A number are looking to offer more flexible working, and there are some businesses that are not planning on having most staff back in offices this year.

Here is what groups, that have offices in London, and/or other parts of the UK, had to say and share:

3i Group

Investment company 3i has around 150 office-based employees in Britain, all of whom have worked from home since the lockdown started. It is keeping under review when staff will go back into the office, but said it will not be before September 1.

The firm added: “We will carry out a risk assessment and make the necessary adjustments to our working environment to ensure a safe return to the office for all our employees at the appropriate time.”

Admiral Group

Car insurance giant Admiral has some 7500 staff across its seven offices in Wales. Close to 15% are back in the office, with stringent distancing measures in place.

The company said its plan “is to create a flexible workforce with a mix of remote, office and hybrid workers”.

Anglo American

Miner Anglo American said less than 5% of the near 800 workers it has in its UK HQ have returned to the office.

It is unclear when more people will go back, but it added: “ When we do open up the office to more of our employees, we will continue to operate a weekly shift system for the time-being to ensure appropriate de-densification and health bubbles.”

Ashtead

Equipment rental giant Ashtead said less than 10% of its UK employees are office based and while some have returned to the office on a voluntary basis, most are still working from home. The firm is following government guidelines closely, and the easing of restrictions will determine when it has everyone back in the office.

AstraZeneca

The pharmaceuticals group said around 6000 of its 8000 employees working in UK sites started to work from home when the lockdown started. Those who remained on bases were key workers in lab-based, manufacturing and support roles.

AstraZeneca said: “Taking into consideration UK government guidance, what is right for the health and well-being of our employees, and what enables us to safeguard the supply of medicines to patients, we will start to return UK-based office staff to their usual sites of work from September. This will be a phased approach, taking into consideration all employees’ personal circumstances.”

Avast

Cybersecurity business Avast has 118 UK employees, of which 90 attended offices regularly before the lockdown, but only a handful have been back occasionally when business critical services are required.

Avast will reopen its London sites on July 27 to provide a workspace for employees that want it. The firm said: “Avast has always provided flexible working arrangements for our colleagues and therefore our working practices have been largely unaffected by the pandemic. However, we are continuing to monitor the situation and will prioritise the safety and wellbeing of our colleagues at all times.”

Aviva

The insurance company has about 17,000 employees across different locations throughout the UK. As at last week some 500 people were working from sites to different degrees. A spokesman for the firm said: “The safety and wellbeing of our people continues to be our priority. While we have prepared our buildings for the safe return of a small number of people who need or want to work from the office, the majority of employees will remain working and serving our customers from home for the time being.”

The spokesman added: “We will create ways of working that enable us to improve productivity and deliver the best possible outcomes for customers while providing colleagues with flexibility that helps us attract and retain the best and most diverse people.”

BAE Systems

BAE Systems, the defence and aerospace company, does not breakdown staff numbers into office and non-office based as many work across both. A company spokesman said: “The health and wellbeing of our people is our top priority and we’ve taken action to keep our people safe, whilst ensuring we continue to provide critical capability to help the armed forces and governments protect national security.”

Around 10,000 UK based staff have returned safely to sites. The remainder of its 34,000 UK based workforce is working from home.

Barratt

Britain’s biggest housebuilder by volume has around 2800 employees out of 6700 here that are office based. All of those office based staff continue to work from home.

Barratt said: “We will continue to review this in light of government guidelines and our employee feedback but for now our office based employees will continue to work from home.”

BP

Oil giant BP has around 6500 office based staff in the UK, most of who have worked from home, if they can, since March 13.

In the UK the firm is now starting to open some of its offices to a small number of pre-selected employees whose roles are better suited to being in the office. A number of new measures are in place such as 2 metre distancing and one way systems.

BP said: “We will continue to very carefully monitor the success of these reopening measures, as well as the wider trends of the spread of the Covid-19 virus, as we decide when and how best to further open up the remaining offices in the UK.”

British American Tobacco

The tobacco group has some 2700 office based employees in Britain and they have continued to work from home where they can.

A BAT spokesman said: “The health and safety of our employees remains our top priority. Any return to the office will be done in line with official UK government guidance but will also take into account individual employee health and safety considerations.”

British Land

The property developer has around 600 staff based in offices or British Land developments. 30% of the 400 head office staff have returned to the office in varying capacities and with social distancing measures in place.

It has not been obligatory for people to come back. British Land said once schools reopen in September it will be able to accommodate most of its employees back to the office.

BT

The telecoms giant has some 52,000 office based staff in the UK including contact centres, network operations and corporate teams. Around 10,000 continued to attend the workplace, and close to 1000 have returned to the office in roles where home working was not practical. The rest remain working from home.

BT is yet to make a decision on when most staff will be back in. A spokesman said: “We would be delighted to welcome our colleagues back into our workplaces when it is safe to do so. We are confident in our ability to create safe working spaces for our colleagues. The key concern for our colleagues is commuting and especially public transport which 74% of our London based colleagues rely on to get into work.”

Burberry

The fashion firm has some 1350 office based staff in London and 380 in Leeds. Most continue to work from home. It said a plan to get people back to the bases “will largely depend on the course of the pandemic – the safety and wellbeing of our teams is our utmost priority”.

Coca-Cola HBC

The soft drink bottler has 250 office based employees in Northern Ireland. All of those that can (233) remain working from home and the company expects to have most back in next year. That timeline remains dependent on local Government guidelines on social distancing requirements and how they influence maximum allowable capacity within the firm’s office environment.

Diageo

The drinks behemoth behind Guinness and Smirnoff vodka has 4500 UK employees. Of those that are office-based, those who have been able to work from home have been doing so since the beginning of March and continue to do so.

Evraz

The steel company said office employees here have worked from home since March. It currently expects to be back to normal in September. There will be hand sanitisers, masks and sufficient social distancing space available on site, the company said.

Flutter Entertainment

Flutter, which operates sports betting and gaming brands, said almost all of its 2600 UK office employees remain working from home. It has a phased plan to allow staff to return to the office but it is not currently requiring any to return to the office at this time.

Hargreaves Lansdown

Investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown has some 1600 workers in offices, mainly based in Bristol, of which 1300 continue to work from home. An extensive employee safeguarding programme is in place for remaining colleagues working from the office, which includes distributing them across their three sites to facilitate social distancing measures.

The firm is looking at the return for other staff in two stages: the short and longer term, and in line with government guidance. In the former it will prioritise return based on colleague well-being, teams/ colleagues whose role is more productive from an office based environment, and then remaining colleagues by rotation.

Longer term Hargreaves Lansdown is taking the opportunity to review what the future structure will look like: “How we increase flexible and home working, and working through the optimum time for people to mix home and office working.” The firm thinks returning people to work together in the office, whether on a reduced number of days per week, or by rotation, will be positive for mental health, reduce isolation, improve networking, collaboration and teamwork, and improve learning and development.

Homeserve

The firm, which has a service that guarantees that a tradesperson will come round to your house and fix your boiler, heating or plumbing, in return for a monthly premium, has 2150 UK office based staff, and less than 50 have returned to the office.

Homeserve envisages a gradual return to the office as government guidance evolves. It said: “We are planning a gradual return to the office, and are hoping to introduce more flexible working in many functions on a more permanent basis, to promote employee engagement and improve work/life balance.”

Imperial Brands

The tobacco company has around 500 people at the group headquarters. The firm's default position remains that people should continue to work from home.

It said there may be circumstances where staff need to go into the office, although the number of people in the office on any given day currently is still very small. The return back will depend on government advice as it evolves.

Informa

Events and research business Informa has 3,500 UK staff.

At the beginning of July, the company started to reopen its larger offices on a controlled basis for colleagues who wanted to work from the office for part or all of the week. It said it has a comprehensive range of safety and hygiene measures in place for those who come in.

InterContinental Hotels Group

The group behind the Holiday Inn chain has approximately 750 UK office employees, all of who continue to work from home. A return plan has not yet been confirmed.

Intermediate Capital Group

The asset manager has 294 office based employees here, all of who were encouraged to work from home when global offices closed in March.

The company has made some desks available for those who have difficulty working from home and a very small number have used these on a regular basis.

Intermediate Capital Group plans to allow employees to return to the London office from September onwards, depending on government advice at the time.

IAG

The owner of British Airways has 80 office based employees, and almost all have been working from home.

It does not currently plan to bring people back to the office over the summer. After that it will review the situation in conjunction with the views of employees.

Intertek

Intertek is a lab based testing and assurance business that has remained fully open and operational through the lockdown in order to supply its “essential” business critical services to government and businesses alike.

It said its workforce have therefore remained fully operational, "though working to the strictest government safety guidelines throughout the Covid-19 pandemic".

Just Eat

Food delivery service Just Eat has 1,200 office based employees in the UK split across three main offices, and all remain working from home.

The firm said employees have been able to work effectively remotely during lockdown and as such it is not rushing to return them back to the office. A spokesman said: “We are committed to providing on-going support to all our people when offices reopen, whether they choose to return to the workplace or continue working from home.”

Just Eat does not have an estimated date for having most people back in.

Landsec

The property developer has around 450 office based staff, who started working from home a week before the lockdown. It has introduced multiple new health and safety measures, and made the office available to staff from the beginning of July. It is advising employees to only come to the workplace if they have a clear business reason to do so, and that they avoid using public transport where possible, in line with current government advice.

The office is operating at a reduced capacity of approximately 30%. Landsec is not anticipating any significant changes to its current working arrangements over the summer. It is provisionally planning for greater numbers of people to return to the workplace from September when schools return full-time.

Barry Hoffman, group HR director at Landsec said: “We know how important it is to be flexible with how office space is used to accommodate a diverse workforce and different ways of working, and this has only been heightened by our Covid-19 experience.

Legal & General

The company has some 6,700 UK employees in offices, although about a quarter of this headcount was already “agile” and not principally office-based full-time before the lockdown.

Most worked from home when lockdown started, and around 300 remained office-based. About 1200 have returned to the office since.

Looking ahead, L&G said it is taking a measured, step-by-step approach as different locations and individuals have different requirements. It said a return to the workplace is likely to be gradual rather than binary "so our approach is to adapt offices to create enough capacity so over 80% can safely spend some time, for example a day or two per fortnight, in the office. This will happen in stages".

Lloyds Banking Group

The company, which has kept 95% of its branches open through the crisis, has asked the majority of people, who are currently working from home, to continue doing so until at least September to limit travel and maintain social distancing measures.

It said it rolled out the technology and training to enable around 50,000 employees to work from home, up from the previous level of around 15,000.

For anyone whose personal circumstances makes it difficult to work from home, the firm has rolled out the use of wellbeing desks in a number of offices so colleagues have another option of where they can work.

M&G

The firm’s offices in the UK remain closed and some 4,000 UK-based staff continue to work from home.

The investment manager said: “We will not rush into any decisions that would put anyone at risk and we will continue to monitor official advice before taking a decision whether to reopen our offices.”

National Grid

Energy company National Grid said most of its 4000 UK office based workers have since March done their jobs from home, excluding 200 who continued to work in control rooms. Around 100 more have returned to the office on a full or part time basis.

National Grid is reviewing the next steps and expects the wider return to be a gradual and carefully managed process. It expects to maintain its current working arrangements until at least September.

Next

The High Street retailer has 3500 UK office based employees, of which 1500 started to work from home when the lockdown started.

Approximately 50% of people have returned to the office, but not every day. At any one time about 20% are in the head office. The chain said it continues to monitor government guidance.

Ocado

The online grocer said the bulk of its 2500 people in UK offices are working from home, excluding a couple of hundred needed in the call centres. Offices are open for an additional 200 people to return.

Ocado is not sure when everyone will be back. With the current 1 metre guidance it can get 50% to 60% back, so it “will keep an eye on the guidance but expect to give more flexibility than before”.

Pearson

Education publisher Pearson said most of its 3600 employees here are office-based and continue to work from home. It is planning for staff to return to the London HQ at 80 Strand in 2021, and its smaller 190 High Holborn location will be ready later this year for staff that want to come into the office.

A spokesman said: “At Pearson we are committed to creating a flexible, modern working environment for all our people.”

Phoenix Group

Life insurer Phoenix said most of its 4122 employees here started working from home in March, with 50 key workers in offices. A further 50 have returned. The company will review its plans in September, but does not expect to be back in before October 1

Tony Kassimiotis, chief operating officer, said: “We want to make sure our employees continue to benefit from what they report are the positive aspects of more flexible, remote working, while blending that with the best aspects of office based working.”

RELX

The information and analytics business has 5500 UK office workers. Most sites are open, but it is not mandatory for staff to return and most continue to work from home.

It has no planned date yet for people to return. A spokesman added: “A lot of people are enjoying working from home and some are saving as many as 15 hours a week commuting, which they are not missing at all.”

Rentokil Initial

The pest control and hygiene company has 700 normally based in offices that moved to work from home at the start of the pandemic. Some people have begun to combine office, with social distancing measures in place, and home working. Most are still working from home which is being kept under review.

Rightmove

The property website has over 530 staff who moved to home-based working in March. Chief executive Peter Brooks-Johnson said: “I’ve been encouraged by how seamlessly people have adapted to working from home and how productivity has increased over the past few months.”

Small numbers of employees have been allowed into offices, with social distancing in place. The boss added: “We’re in no rush to bring everyone back to the office, we see the transition as a gradual one and it will be kept under constant review.”

Rio Tinto

The miner has approximately 150 employees here, mostly at the HQ in London. All continue to work from home. Rio Tinto said: “We continue to monitor the situation, but we have no immediate plans to change these arrangements.”

Rolls-Royce

At Rolls Royce around 14,000 employees are office based in the UK, nearly all were working from home at the start of the lockdown, while some people were furloughed.

Only a very small percentage have returned to the workplace if they are unable to do their role remotely.

The engineering company is monitoring government guidelines and as measures are relaxed, teams, depending on roles and business requirements, will make the final decision on returning to the office. Many of its production staff have continued to work at manufacturing sites with strict guidelines in place.

RBS

Some 49,000 RBS staff in the UK will continue to work from home into 2021, under plans the lender has.

A spokesman for company said: “Like we've done throughout the pandemic the decision has been made carefully, including considering the latest guidance from the UK Government on Friday and our own health and safety standards and procedures. It's a cautious approach but we feel the right one to take currently.”

As at last week RBS had around 49,000 people in the UK logging in from home each day. Around 10,000 of its staff globally continued to work in branches, call centres, and offices during the lockdown, while an additional 400 people globally working in regulated roles were asked to go back to work in the lender’s offices in June.

RSA Insurance Group

The firm has had only around 5% of its 5300 UK staff in the office during lockdown. It recently concluded a staff survey that found a number are keen on retaining more agile working.

A company spokesman said: “We won’t be rushing a return, as the safety and wellbeing of our people has been at the heart of our decision making throughout the pandemic.” It will pilot a phased return in its Peterborough office from August, and will monitor how that goes.

Schroders

The asset manager, which employs 2500 people in Britain, said it has offered remote working options for a number of years. It kept its HQ in London open and has had a small number of people return for at least part of the week. The company is monitoring the situation, and said going forward senior executives will be working from home at least one day a week.

Spirax‐Sarco Engineering

The thermal energy management and niche pumping specialist has around 1000 office-based people in the UK. Only 15 skeleton staff stayed in offices when the lockdown began, and employees are still being encouraged to work from home where possible.

Those who needed to return started to do so this month as part of a phased return. They are not in the office full-time, and social distancing measures are in place. Spirax-Sarco does not have a specific return date for most workers.

SSE

Energy group SSE said 10,000 office staff started working from home in March. Its current arrangements will last until at least September, at which point SSE will review the situation again.

St James’s Place

Wealth manager St James’s Place has 2,000 employees across its UK locations.

Most are still working from home and occupancy levels in its building that have reopened are at 10-12%, which it said means it can comfortably achieve social distancing.

St James’s Place added that partners and employees have shown that they have been able to work very productively from home, so it is reviewing its future approach to remote working policies as it moves in to the “new normal”.

Standard Life Aberdeen

The asset manager in June said that the majority of its 4,900 workforce in the UK would not be returning to the office this year. It currently has a handful of people in its UK offices.

Tesco

The supermarket chain has around 6000 people in its UK head office. It said that colleagues who have business critical roles or who need access to the office to fulfil their roles have begun to return a few days per week.

Tesco will welcome back other colleagues, in line with government guidance in relation to safe office environments.

United Utilities

The water supplier said around 2,950 employees are currently working from home. The remaining key worker roles are those that cannot be undertaken from home.

United Utilities’ plan is to start to bringing people back into the workplace from early September on a phased basis, starting with business critical teams. The number of people who can work in offices will depend on space and current social distancing requirements, but the aim is to allow all employees to spend some time back in the office using a rota.

Vodafone

The telecommunications giant has about 7,850 office based staff here. All worked from home for the lockdown, with only around 1% back in the office.

Vodafone said it is reviewing how it might open up access to sites with social distancing in place, for certain jobs and meetings. However it broadly expects “to stay as we are” until the year end. It expects to use a mixture of office based and remote working going forwards.

Whitbread

The Premier Inn owner said almost all of its 1300 office-based workers continue to work from home. It said it continues to assess the practicalities of enabling more employees to return to offices in London and Dunstable.

WPP

Global advertising and marketing firm WPP has 10,000 employees in the UK normally working in offices. They all started working from home in March, and around 1% are currently back in.

The company is gradually starting to open offices, but it does not expect most people to be back before September. Longer term, WPP will be embracing more flexible ways of working.