Anas Sarwar says staff should get back to the office as he urges working from home rethink
Anas Sarwar has called for staff to get back to the office due to the impact of working from home on struggling city centres. The Scottish Labour leader said getting round a table boosted “creativity and productivity” as he called for a post-covid rebalancing.
Lockdown led Scots working from home in a bid to contain soaring infection levels and keep people safe. But the practice has continued after the pandemic as staff conclude they can do their jobs without coming to the office.
Businesses, particularly in the food, hospitality and retail sectors, say they have suffered from fewer workers being in towns and cities during the day.
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Sarwar, who has said economic growth will be his top priority if Labour wins in 2026, told the Record: “Covid has changed our economy fundamentally. That has posed opportunities, it has changed cultures but it has also I think had unintended consequences."
He said of his home city: “Glasgow city centre is struggling and anyone who tells you otherwise is just not telling you the truth. I think that one of the frustrations people have with Glasgow city council and with the Scottish Government at Holyrood is they want to pretend somehow that everything is fine. It’s not fine.
“Increasing footfall is going to come from a combination of more people from outside the city centre going to the city centre. It’s going to be more people living in the city centre. It is going to be more tourists coming into Glasgow. But it is also, crucially, more people working in the city centre and therefore using city centre hospitality or city centre retail. That includes the council building, where I am told on some occasions only 20% of the staff are in the building at any one time.”
He added: “We are not saying return to the full time having to be in the office, but let’s get the balance right of working at home when it is appropriate but also getting people back in the office and that creativity and productivity that comes from people getting round the table making decisions.”
Glasgow business owner Donald MacLeod said: "I fully support what Anas is saying. Working from home has turned our towns and cities into concrete and tarmac deserts. It's economic vandalism and we have to put the brakes on." MacLeod also criticised the costs of public transport and described the reintroduction of peak rail fares as a "disgrace".
A range of views exist within Labour on the merits of working from home. Jonathan Reynolds, the Business Secretary in the Labour Government, rejected “bizarre” Tory attacks on staff who do not work in the office: “I think it’s important to stress that good employers understand that workforce, to keep them motivated and resilient, they do need to judge people on outcomes and not a culture of presenteeism.”
He added: “Jacob Rees-Mogg made this big thing as business secretary [in] declaring war on people working from home. That’s pretty bizarre given the economic position the country was in and the real business agenda that needs to be pursued.”
Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves took a different view: “I think I lead by example. The first weekend after Labour won the election, I turned up in the Treasury straight after I was appointed by Keir as chancellor and worked through the evening.
"Then we were all in the office all day Saturday, all day Sunday. We weren't doing it on Zoom … I do think people coming together and working together collaboratively promotes ideas."
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