Debenhams Group (formerly Boohoo) CEO Dan Finley has asked all head office employees to return to working five days a week in the office.
He is understood to be particularly keen to see younger employees back at their desks, wearing clothing produced by the company, and able to learn ‘on-the-job’ from senior colleagues. Finley has also stressed the advantages of face-to-face collaboration as well as meeting and getting to know other team members through socialising with them out of hours.
Other sector businesses have also been encouraging more of their employees to work regularly from their offices rather than spending the lion’s share of the week working remotely from home. Agreeing that some of their more recent recruits have never enjoyed the benefits of close teamwork, learning informally from others on a day-to-day basis, or making new friends at work.
“Getting back to the office should be seen a positive goal, not a punishment,” responded one DCA member to our own mini-survey. With another adding: “I cannot think of anything more depressing than spending a full working week, seeing no one, chatting to no one, squashed into what passes as a makeshift study. Yet I have recruits who are nervous beyond belief at the very mention of meeting colleagues in person. It cannot be good for anyone to shut themselves away.”
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