City of London offices still not as busy as before Omicron

CITY of London workers are yet to return to the financial heartland in numbers seen before the spread of the Omicron variant.

About 60-70 per cent of City employees are back at their desks, according to data compiled by Google, which tracks the movements of some of its users. That’s less than the 75 per cent commuting prior to the Omicron wave taking hold in late 2021. 

Businesses pushing for a return to the office continue to meet resistance from employees enjoying a better work-life balance as a result of not having to travel in every day. Almost 80 per cent of London-based staff working remotely at least once a week say the experience has been good for them, according to a report published on Wednesday (Jun 8) by the Policy Institute at King’s College London.

Inflation has soared to almost 10 per cent in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and the rising price of everything from train travel to lunches may be putting off commuters. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said earlier this month that the UK economy will slow next year, with only Russia performing worse among leading economies. 

In the London boroughs of Camden and Islington, home to the King’s Cross neighbourhood that’s popular with tech firms including Meta Platforms. and Alphabet, about the same percentage of workers are back in the office as before Omicron’s spread. The average is typically 55-65 per cent, depending on day and location.

The number of employees in the office has varied in recent weeks due to the school holidays and the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations.