IG employees not required to return to the office until 2021
IG is the latest firm to say its employees will not be required to return to the office for the rest of the year.
In a memo seen by City PM, the online trading firm’s chief operating officer Jon Noble told UK employees that they can continue working from home until the end of 2020.
“We understand this is still an unsettling time so if you wish to carry on working at home 100 per cent of the time for the rest of the year, please continue to do so. We will next review this decision in early 2021.”
IG’s Cannon Bridge House office will reopen from 7 September as part of its second phase of the ‘Return to Office’ plan in London. It is understood just one of the office’s two floors will be used as there is an expectation the majority of employees will continue to work remotely.
However Noble recognised that while some people will continue to work remotely, there has been increased demand for people to return to the office.
IG’s workforce is relatively young, with 80 per cent of staff under 40, and so may be more likely to return to the office, even part-time. “We are conscious that some people have been living and working from a single room since March,” Noble told employees.
Noble also suggested that the office may prove attractive for teams who want to work on a specific project but “there is no expectation that anyone should attend in person if they don’t want to”.
Read more: Linklaters tells lawyers they can spend half their time at home permanently
IG’s announcement comes after a raft of City firms have told employees they will not need to return to the office permanently. Earlier this month, fund manager Schroders become the first major firm to tell staff they will not be required to be in the office five days a week.
Its plan to overhaul working patterns was revealed in an internal memo, seen by the Telegraph. Schroders declared a “new approach to flexible working”, allowing workers to choose when they want to be in the office.
This week JP Morgan and magic circle firm Linklaters told staff they can continue to work remotely on a part-time basis. The investment bank said employees in London and Wall Street will shift between office and home working.
Meanwhile Linklaters told staff that they could spend between 20 and 50 per cent of their time working from home.