Deloitte gives its 20,000 people the choice of when and where they work

Deloitte’s chief executive, Richard Houston, has today confirmed that all of its UK people will be able to choose when, where and how they work in the future, once it is safe to do so.

Deloitte has long been a champion of agile working, with extended flexible working in place since 2014. While less than half of the firm’s UK workforce worked from home on a regular basis pre-COVID-19, the pandemic has accelerated Deloitte’s hybrid working model. Up to 20,000 people in the UK have worked from home or remotely since March last year.

Richard Houston, senior partner and chief executive, Deloitte, commented: “The impact of the pandemic has profoundly changed our way of life, not least in the way we work. The last year has really shown that one size does not fit all when it comes to balancing work and personal lives. It has also shown that we can trust our people to make the right choice in when, how and where they work.

“Once the Government has lifted all of the COVID-19 restrictions and we’re back up to full office capacity, we will let our people choose where they need to be to do their best work, in balance with their professional and personal responsibilities. I’m not going to announce any set number of days for people to be in the office or in specific locations. That means that our people can choose how often they come to the office, if they choose to do so at all, while focusing on how we can best serve our clients.”

A recent staff survey revealed that 81% of respondents anticipate working from a Deloitte office for up to two days a week in the future. The research also showed that 96% of Deloitte’s people want to have the freedom to choose how flexibly they will work in the future.

In addition, 86% of respondents ranked ‘collaborating with team colleagues’ and ‘interacting with others’ within their top three ways they envisage using the office in the future.

Transforming workplaces
Once government restrictions allow for a return to offices at 100% capacity, Deloitte will see the firm’s office buildings being used principally for team collaboration, training and client meetings. Each business area will experience the new ways of working, adapting quickly to reflect what works best for clients and people, with feedback being used to help the firm shape hybrid working in the months and years ahead.

Houston added: “We want to ensure we keep the flexibility of remote working, without losing the connections and opportunities for collaboration that we need to make a difference for our clients, our people and for society. This is a fantastic opportunity for us to embrace the benefits from the last 16 months of being able to spend more time at home, while our people can be flexible in the way they work and reconnect with their colleagues and the office as needed.

“Critically, we want to ensure that the future of work is inclusive for all of our people. With a focus on wellbeing, our flexible approach to hybrid working will create opportunities for our people to thrive and reach their full potential. In addition, our long-term future of work plans will be closely linked to our wider sustainability goals, and will ultimately help us achieve our World Climate commitments.”

-Ends-

Notes to editors

• As of 17 May 2021, all of Deloitte’s UK offices reopened. These spaces are accessible for our people where they cannot work from home - be it for wellbeing purposes, where they are unable to work from home, or ‘business critical’ work in accordance with government guidance.

• Deloitte continues to follow COVID-secure guidance for office space, with measures in place across all locations.

• Deloitte is taking part in the government’s workplace testing programme, providing COVID-19 test kits for our people.

• Booking of spaces will remain in place to help manage capacity.

• Find out more about Deloitte’s World Climate Strategy.
  

About Deloitte

In this press release references to “Deloitte” are references to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (“DTTL”) a UK private company limited by guarantee, and its network of member firms, each of which is a legally separate and independent entity. Please see deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of DTTL and its member firms.

Deloitte LLP is a subsidiary of Deloitte NSE LLP, which is a member firm of DTTL, and is among the UK's leading professional services firms.

The information contained in this press release is correct at the time of going to press.

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