Citigroup Tells London Employees To Work In Office 3 Days A Week

UNITED KINGDOM – After the UK government withdrew its work-from-home (WFH) guidance, finance institutions begin urging their staff to return to the office. For instance, multinational investment bank Citigroup has told its London employees to come into the office at least 3 days per week, reported Bloomberg on Thursday evening (20 January, SGT).

“We are now free to gather in our offices, without restriction, where we are better able to generate the energy and collaborative spirit on which Citi thrives,” stated an email sent to staff by Citigroup’s CEO for EMEA David Livingstone and UK Head James Bardrick.

Similarly, Standard Chartered and Fidelity International said that they are urging their employees in the United Kingdom to return to their workplaces.

“Everyone is expected to be in the office at least 3 days per week,” Standard Chartered Chairman Jose Vinals and Fidelity International CEO Anne Richards said jointly on Bloomberg Television on Thursday

“We will be encouraging more people to come into the office. I’m looking forward to being physically back to the office from next week,” added Richards.

The office-return comes after the UK government announced on Wednesday that most COVID curbs are being removed in England in the coming days, which includes guidance for staff to work from home.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) UK’s Chairman Kevin Ellis is another business leader embracing the change. He said he expects the latest office-return to be speedier than the previous one, during which it took his company two months to get back its workplace capacity to 80 percent.

“We’re expecting a faster bounce back now. People know the drill – and this is great news for small businesses and city centres that rely on office workers,” he stated in an email on Thursday.