Union bosses have urged ministers to accept that working practices have changed amid a row over a Government push to get people back in offices.
Ministers are encouraging people to stop working from home with many coronavirus restrictions lifted, as fears grow that firms reliant on city centre trade are suffering from a lack of commuter business.
People choosing to keep working from home could make themselves more “vulnerable” to redundancy if businesses need to restructure because of Covid-19, an unnamed source told the Telegraph on Friday.
But unions have hit back at the move by the Government as out of touch with what many workers want.
Empty streets in UK after pubs and restaurants close
Dave Penman, general secretary of civil service union the FDA said ministers need to accept the “world of work has changed” and called them “dinosaurs” for attempting to get civil servants back to their desks.
And Trade Union Congress general secretary Frances O’Grady said many workers now wanted “a better balance of office and home-based working”.
Her comments were reflected in new research that suggests people want to continue working from home more.
A report called Homeworking in the UK: before and during the 2020 lockdown claimed 90 per cent of people who had worked from home during lockdown wanted to continue to do so.
Meanwhile Labour shadow business minister Lucy Powell also slammed the report in the Telegraph, calling the remarks “unconscionable” and demanding that Downing Street “condemn this briefing”.
She added: “It beggars belief that the Government are threatening people like this during a pandemic.”
And the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) hit out at the idea of “people’s jobs being vulnerable if they do not return to the office”.
Interim commission chair Caroline Waters said: “The pandemic has seen many employers rip up the red tape and scale up their flexible working practices.
“Having been forced out of offices and to adapt to working from home overnight, many employers have seen the benefits of flexible working and have said they will continue with a more flexible approach beyond the pandemic.
“This has presented an opportunity to drive up flexibility for everyone, unlocking more career opportunities for disabled people and helping people to balance the complexity of working from home with caring responsibilities and family life.
“Having seen how it is possible to work flexibly and retain productivity, we cannot backtrack now. Reopening offices does not need to mean the end of homeworking and there should be no question of people’s jobs being vulnerable if they do not return to the office.”
The critics' comments came as Grant Shapps said that there is a "limit" to working from home as joined calls urging people to get back to the office.
Speaking from home, the Transport Secretary told Sky: “I think there’s a limit, just in human terms, to remote working.
“And there are things where you just need to spark off each other and get together in order to make progress.”
He added that the social aspect of leaving home to go to work could be important for some people's mental health, especially people in smaller properties.
He said: "If you think about somebody who’s maybe at the younger end of the workforce, perhaps, lives in an apartment or a shared flat, is literally spending their days on Zoom from a corner of their bedroom.
“You can see why for a lot of people’s mental health, it is important to be able to return back to a safe workplace.”
Mr Shapps' comments echo calls that Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been making for weeks for people to start going back to their workplaces wherever possible.
But their remarks contrasted with comments made by Matt Hancock on Thursday.
The Health Secretary told Times Radio that he had “absolutely no idea” how many civil servants in his department have returned to the office. He added that he cares more that they are doing their jobs effectively.
But the head of one the UK's top business groups warned of the "cost of office closures" and called for a "hybrid" approach to home working.
Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the CBI, said: “Some of our busiest city centres resemble ghost towns, missing the usual bustle of passing trade.
“This comes at a high price for local businesses, jobs and communities.”
Her comments came after Pret a Manger said it planned to cut 2,800 roles from stores, with 30 sites due to be closed, after trade dropped about 60 per cent since last year.
As workplaces reopen, all employers need to carry out Covid-19 risk assessments and should seek input from staff on introducing safety measures, the Government has said.
Tom Neil, a senior adviser at workplace experts Acas, said: “If an employee is worried about catching coronavirus by going into work, they should talk to their employer as early as possible.
“An employer should listen to any concerns an employee may have and seek to reassure them by highlighting measures already taken.”