Nationwide re-assess real estate as employees given the chance to 'work anywhere'

UK building society Nationwide is to allow all of its 13,000 office-based staff to choose where they work, including at local branches.

The move comes after Nationwide employees were surveyed on how they would like to work in future, with just six per cent saying they wanted to work in an office five days a week and more than half (57%) wanting to work from home fulltime. More than a third (36%) want a blend of home and office work.

Early data from the building society shows that remote working is seen by many to have benefits, with 30% of employees saying that they are better at prioritising their workload in the home environment.

Joe Garner, chief executive of Nationwide, says: “The last year has taught many of us that ‘how’ we do our jobs is much more important than ‘where’ we do them from. We have listened and learned, and we are now deciding to move forward, not back. We are putting our employees in control of where they work from, inviting them to ‘locate for their day’ depending on what they need to achieve.”

Under the plan, Nationwide is closing three offices in Swindon, with 3,000 staff either moving to the nearby HQ, working from home, or mixing the two.

The Society is also trialling an initiative across select branches where employees traditionally based in offices work side-by-side with frontline branch staff.

Other real estate measures, including the creation of collaboration spaces, fewer traditional meeting rooms and a range of wellbeing measures such as quiet areas and designated walking and cycling routes are also being put in place.