Hybrid working will hurt London’s productivity, think tank warns

The shift to working from home risks undermining London’s position as an economic powerhouse, the Centre for Cities has warned. “Policymakers should be wary that we don’t passively let a public health emergency turn into a longer-term negative impact on the economy,” said chief executive Andrew Carter. Its report, Office Politics: London and the Rise of Home Working, was released yesterday and pointed out that office attendance in the capital was 59% that of pre-pandemic levels. Staff, it added, were spending an average of just 2.3 days a week in the office. “The big risk here is that hybrid working sees a further deterioration in productivity growth off the back of a poor performance over the previous decade-and-a-half, at a time when the London economy needs to move in the opposite direction,” the report said. It added that office attendance might enter a downward spiral if companies gave up office leases on larger buildings and falling ticket sales then led to a reduction in transport services. It also warned against offices being repurposed as residential, which could lead to a permanent reduction in available workspace. This would “limit the ability of the central London economy to grow in the future”, it said. The FT (£)The Guardian