MORE British workers are staying at home than any other major European country, new figures have revealed today.
Just over a third of Brits have headed back to the office and behind desks after the PM scrapped home-work advice on August 1.
The UK is lagging behind all major European countries in France 83 per cent of office staff are back at their desks and 70 per cent of Germans have given up working from home, according to a survey by Morgan Stanley.
76 per cent of Italian workers have gone back to the office and 73 per cent of Spanish staff are back.
But the number of people working 5 days a week in the office in the European countries has plummeted.
Only Spain has more than 20 per cent of its workforce out of the home office for 5 days a week.
Of the people who have gone back to work in the UK – 46 per cent of people are working 5 days a week.
The PM formally scrapped the work from home advice last month and encouraged employers to work with their staff to start the transition back to the office.
Despite pushing back further reopening of the nation by two weeks because of fears of a second wave, the PM went ahead with plans to get people back in the office.
But many companies have said they will keep their staff working at home well into next year.
Google announced last week that all of its staff worldwide would stay working from home until summer 2021.
The change in advice was aimed to try and stem the devastating job losses on the high street as sales plunged.
Days before the PM’s formal announcement, the Government chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance cast doubt on the safety of sending people back to work.
Last week, chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty warned Britain had “reached the limits” of reopening.
WH Smith and M&Co slashed hundreds of jobs today, bringing the number of of workers facing redundancy in the UK because of coronavirus over 100,000.
Revenue at WH Smith was down 57 per cent last month compared to July 2019 – with most of the heaviest losses being felt at stores in airports and train stations.
Pizza Express announced yesterday they could be forced to close 67 per cent of its UK restaurants and 1,100 jobs could be at risk.
It comes in the first week of the Government’s Eat Out to Help Out Scheme to boost customer numbers at hospitality venues by tempting them with 50 per cent off their bill – up to £10 per person.
