Time and money: why Londoners refuse to drop working from home

theguardian.com:

Londoners are working from home mainly to avoid the time and cost of travelling to the office, according to a study that shows most believe they are unlikely to return to five days in the office again.

Cuts to public transport and the high cost of fares act as a major deterrent to workers making daily trips to the office, while traffic jams and the soaring cost of petrol and diesel, which hit a fresh peak this week, make commuting by car unattractive, the survey found.

Only 10% of the workers said they thought they would return to the office full-time compared with 73% who told researchers from King’s College London that working from home at least one day a week would be a permanent feature of modern life.

Old and young respondents gave the same positive response to working from home, as did those who vote Labour and Conservative, though a larger number of Labour than Tory supporters was in favour of home working.

Tara Reich, an expert in human resource management at King’s College business school, said: “The opportunity to work from home has given many London workers a sense of control that they aren’t keen to give up.”

Among those who say they experienced positive impacts from working at home, avoiding the daily commute was seen as the top benefit by 80%, followed by the ability to manage home-social responsibilities on 66% – with 71% of women citing this as a factor compared with 60% of men.

The report is expected to alarm the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, and Transport for London executives, who need people to return to previous levels of commuting from next year, when the government plans to make the capital’s transport system self-financing.

Other cities, where workers are likely to take a similarly positive view of home