Barclays has delayed making UK staff come in three days a week after thousands asked for commuting costs to be covered. If your boss wants you in, should they pay?
The change, due on 5 October, would have moved most staff from two to three office days and senior staff to four. It now becomes compulsory at the start of 2027 after a transition period. A Unite open letter asked for help with commuting costs and exemptions for long commutes, and TSB staff are preparing legal action over a similar plan.
What happened
Barclays planned to raise its office requirement for most UK staff from two to three days a week, and to at least four for senior staff such as managing directors, from 5 October. On 30 September staff were told they would not have to meet the new rules until the start of 2027. Thousands signed an open letter coordinated by Unite, which represents 80% of the bank's 45,000 staff, asking for extra pay to cover commuting and exemptions for commutes over 40 minutes.
Why people disagree
Those who say employers should pay argue that commuting costs time and money, so more required office days amount to a pay cut. In an Owl Labs survey of UK office workers, 29% said an employer-subsidised commute would get them in more often. Others say travelling to work has always been the employee's cost, office jobs were the norm before hybrid working, and firms shouldn't have to pay staff to turn up.
What's still unclear
It is unclear whether Barclays will soften its rules further before 2027, whether TSB staff's legal action will go ahead, and how the government's plan to make firms "properly consider" flexible working requests will work.
Sources
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