Enough is enough – it’s time for everyone to get back to the office

This week, the government announced the end of lockdown restrictions on 19 July. It’s been billed as a return to normality, including drinking at the bar and the end to wearing face masks. But, more importantly, the government has called an end to its recommendation to work from home. A huge development for businesses and the economy that we should embrace. Yet plenty of businesses are having their remote working policies dictated to them by their employees, and it isn’t right.

Over the past 16 months, a lot of businesses have had to resort to remote working. And sure, it’s served a purpose for some. But now, with deaths and hospitalisations remaining low, we need to stamp out the other plague that’s afflicting the country: the work from home entitlement culture that’s taken hold of millions.

I’m not alone. Just this week, London First, a lobby group that represents business leaders, has called on the government to encourage the return to the office. In an open letter, it said “our economic recovery will only succeed if the government commits to reviving our city centres”. I couldn’t agree more.

We need vibrant offices to swap ideas, be collaborative and be productive and we also need a return to normal working hours. There’s no way that’s happening from inside the four walls of our homes. So how can we get our city centres thriving again, our workers back where they should be, and truly “return to normality”? Make work feel like home.

It’s strange that people seem happy to enjoy themselves in pubs or cinemas or have lunch with family and friends, but when it comes to returning to the office it’s apparently one step too far. And that’s because work has negative associations for many. But it needn’t be bad.

Businesses can flip the problem on its head by making the office an inviting place to work. That’s why at my business we have a strong company incentives culture, which includes a free gym and exercise classes, a subsidised canteen, a company masseuse and parties at Christmas and in the summer.

There’s a massive difference between treating staff well and incentivising them to work hard, and lying down and letting them walk all over you. The pendulum of power has swung too far towards employees and bosses need to pull themselves together and take back control.

Vaccines are the key to unlocking the future. I have been beating the “no jab, no job” drum for some time now. When I first announced the policy at Pimlico Plumbers, there was outrage. Apparently some felt I was denying freedom of choice. Well, firstly, if they don’t like it, they can simply find a job elsewhere at a company that doesn’t care as much about the safety of their staff and their customers. Secondly, the government has all but announced a vaccine passport system this week when it suggested that those of us who have had both vaccination shots will have more freedoms than others.

Whether you like it or not, vaccine-based restrictions on our lives are coming and they’re here to stay. So let’s just accept the inevitable, and get on with it. Businesses can play their part by encouraging workers to get vaccinated and back in work. It might seem like harsh medicine to some but it’s for the good of people’s health and the health of our economy.

The final part of the solution is to get furlough out of the system. I know it’s not the same as “working from home” – in fact it’s actually “not working from home” while getting paid. But what it does do, and has done, is added to the philosophy that you can stay at home and still receive an income that is, once you adjust for travel and the like, just as good as actually going to work.

At Pimlico Plumbers we took furlough out of the system a year ago and have enjoyed our best 12 months of trading in the company’s 42-year history. It’s no coincidence. We also now have a fully functioning structure ready for the post-Covid economy. People ask me how we plan to “get things back to normal” now that the Covid restrictions are being removed. The answer is that we already did – a year ago.

So, as companies are now having to subsidise furloughed staff with their own contributions as the government winds down its free-money scheme, I hope this kills off the new scourge attacking our economy – the psychological condition with symptoms that include an extreme reluctance to leave the house and do a day’s work.

So far we’ve been lucky, but with the world starting up again and developing nations even more hungry to eat our lunch, the UK has got to get rid of the welfare mentality of furlough, and the idea that employees can dictate remote working terms to their employer and keep their well-paid jobs. It can’t and won’t eventually happen, and the sooner business owners break the truth to their workers, the better off we’ll all be.

Charlie Mullins is the founder of Pimlico Plumbers