Nationwide confirms there will be space for staff who wish to at the office
Nationwide (LON:NBS) is going to allow the majority of its 13,000 office-based staff to work from home after the end of the coronavirus pandemic if they wish to do so.
The UK’s second largest mortgage provider confirmed its plan to introduce a”work from anywhere” policy as over 4,500 employees responded to an internal survey saying they wish to work from home full-time.
Nationwide chief executive Joe Garner vowed to lead the way promising in an interview that he would work away from the office between one and two days a week. His goal is to make Nationwide’s staff more comfortable in the fact that they would not damage their career prospects by working away from the office.
“Whatever leaderships of organisations say they want to happen, people will follow behaviour more than words,” said Garner.
“The evidence so far is showing you can have better outcomes, productivity, and wellbeing by being more flexible. But if organisations want that to happen, the leadership needs to behave the same way,” he added.
The Nationwide chief did confirm that there would be space for staff who wished to work from, as 6% out of 8,500 respondents to the survey wanted to work in an office for five days per week.
Firms across sectors are deciding on plans on how to resume work once the pandemic eases and offices become accessible again.
A number of companies have said they are looking at hybrid models whereby staff would spend some time working in an office and some at home.
Nationwide’s decision will enable the building society to close down three of its offices near its headquarters in Swindon, while allowing the company to advertise jobs without a set location. “We can recruit talented individuals where they are, not where the office is,” the company said.
Finally, the Nationwide chief said cost-cutting was not the reason for the decision. “If indeed we’re more productive and making better decisions [working from home], the benefits can be multiples of the hard cost saved,” Garner said.
