When the UK was plunged into the first Covid lockdown, many believed working from home was a temporary measure – and that normal working habits would resume post-pandemic.
Yet more than two years since the last restrictions were lifted in Britain, and after bosses repeatedly asked workers to return to the office, people continue to work remotely.
That’s despite government ministers and business owners raising concerns that working from home is negatively impacting productivity and could damage the economy.
And today MailOnline can reveal how firms are offering would-be employees six-figure salaries – all while working from home.
The highest-paid WFH jobs on offer are £150,000 per year, while billing supervisors are being recruited at £100,000 annually, according to job search website Jooble.
Other options include working as a commercial property solicitor for up to £60,000, a tutor paid £51,000 per year and a human resources assistant on £40,000 – while an IT systems administrator can count on receiving up to £55,000 per year.
Six-figure salaries are on offer for people working from home across the UK post-pandemic
Working from home jobs on offer online promise per annum earnings of up to £150,000
Top-prized roles also include equity release advisors on £75,000 per annum, financial controllers offered £70,000 and remotely-working legal counsel hired for as much as £100,000 over the course of a year.
Employers are targeting recruits who prefer clocking on from within the comfort of their own four walls – as Swedish furniture giant IKEA becomes the latest to tout new remote working roles.
The company is offering rates of up to £13.15 per hour to serve customers from home as part of its virtual store Roblox crew – adding up to £43,197.75 per year.
Those earnings are comfortably more than the UK’s average salary of £34,963, according to the Office for National Statistics – 5.8 per cent up on last year’s £33,061.
WFH specialists online are touting roles they say pay as much as between £30 and £48 per hour, such as e-commerce assistants for app developers – and top salaries reach as high as £150,000 without needing to go into an office.
Nine-hour working days across a whole year could net £48-hourly employees almost £158,000 – although online ads suggest much of such work is part-time, with a suggested minimum of five hours per week.
Jooble says average salaries for people working from home in London is £66,845 – 51 per cent more than the UK average – and which amounts to £5,570 per month, £1,285 per week and £33.03 per hour.
The company is currently promoting working from home roles such as service administrators paid an annual £43,000, photography agents on up to £54,000 and loan closers offered as much as £67,000.
Other advertised posts include equity release advisors on £75,000 per annum, financial controllers offered £70,000 and remotely-working legal counsel hired for as much as £100,000 annually.
Daily rates include £450 per day for data analysts in Leeds, £550 for similar roles in Cambridgeshire and the same for educational psychologists in Peterborough.
Roblox is a free online gaming platform that lets users build their own virtual worlds. It allows users to play games created by themselves or by others (file photo)
Within the virtual experience, IKEA fans will be able to ‘live their home furnishing dreams’ and get paid for it, the Swedish firm says
Yet there can be drawbacks, with recent research suggesting that working from home can decrease overall productivity by as much as 20 per cent.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, was one of the ministers pushing for civil servants to return to the office amid productivity fears.
After it emerged that Britain was the working from home capital of Europe last July, he said: ‘No wonder our productivity record, especially in the public sector, continues to be so bad.’
Meanwhile, Charlie Mullins, founder of Pimlico Plumbers, said: ‘It is something that is definitely going to damage the economy.
‘How, for example, can you start a new company from scratch if everyone works from home? How do you train the next generation of workers? Other countries are going back to the office while we lag behind.’
James Micklethwait, vice-president of Kahoot!, told how the ‘changing post-pandemic work environment’ was prompting firms to offer better deals to WFH Gen Z-ers
But contact centre home working specialists Sensée insists ‘homeworking is a better way’ for employers, employees and customers.
The job firm, which has tied up with businesses such as Bupa, Allianz, Northumbrian Water, Staysure and L&G, highlights research suggesting 74 per cent of workers say clocking on remotely gives them a better work-life balance.
A third of businesses now allow their employees to log in from anywhere across the world, according to a study by accountancy firm RSM UK.
Yet some firms are desperately trying to tempt Gen Z-ers back into the office by offering perks such as free breakfasts and woodland meditation retreats.
Britain’s post-lockdown WFH boom means many young workers are demanding 100 per cent remote-working and even refusing to come into the office for job interviews, bosses have said.
One media chief told how the pendulum of power has swung away from the employer towards the employee, saying: ‘Gen-Z candidates want to know what the employer can do for them first – they’re the ones in power.’
James Micklethwait, vice-president of online educational firm Kahoot!, told MailOnline how the ‘changing post-pandemic work environment’ was prompting firms to offer better deals to WFH Gen Z-ers – for fear they could be tempted elsewhere if denied at least hybrid working.
A recent survey by Deloitte found some 77 per cent of Gen Z-ers in the UK and 71 per cent of slightly older millennials would consider looking for a new job if told they had to turn up at their workplace full-time.
Mr Micklethwait said: ‘With many Gen Zs entering the workforce for the first time after having experienced remote education as a consequence of the pandemic, they are increasingly seeking non-traditional desk roles as a result.
‘With this, companies need to manage the generational divide and begin to embrace technology that can ease their transition into the workplace.
‘With Covid lockdowns permanently altering the way we work, it is likely that we will see an increase in roles that would have once been considered out of the ordinary, as employers look to appeal to the demands of younger, tech-minded workers.’
Sausage-maker HECK has built a creche for dogs designed to look like the office staff work in next door.
And a software firm with all staff working from home has decided to book a week in the sun for workers each year to make up for a lack of bonding in the office.
More businesses are also handing out cakes on important days, free breakfasts and lunches as well as meditation courses in woodland, known as ‘forest bathing’.
Salary sacrifice schemes for crypto-currency and help with mortgages to get young people on the property ladder are also being provided more widely.
Yet a survey of HR directors conducted by money-saving website Nous.co found 25-to-34-year-olds were unimpressed by offers of breakfasts, pool tables, after-work drinks – when they would prefer instead help with their finances and mental health.
Health and Safety Executive figures reveal a rise in the number of days lost to stress, anxiety and depression post-pandemic, especially among younger age groups.
Those in the 25-to-34 age bracket report more illness than any other group, while the proportion of those between 16 and 24 claiming work-related stress has overtaken that of people more than twice their age.
The new IKEA roles promise £13.15 per hour to work in a virtual version of the company’s stores.
The ‘fully remote’ role will include helping customers choose their furniture while also serving up meatballs in a digital recreation of the IKEA bistro.
A study conducted earlier this year concluded Brits are spending an average of less than two days a week in the office
The company is taking applications from now until this coming Sunday, though cautions that only 10 posts are available.
The retailer said: ‘Candidates will be recruited to work inside our newest store, located on the gaming platform Roblox, getting a taste of what careers are like in a real life IKEA.
‘Gamers and Ikea fans alike will be able to work, explore and experience the virtual world of Ikea.’
Hopefuls have to fill out an application form that asks questions such as ‘How do you feel about being turned into pixels?’ and ‘What would you do if we ran out of pixelated hot dogs in our bistro?’
The recruitment process also includes a questionnaire and will require an updated CV, while videos can also be submitted.
Meanwhile, the boss of Santander UK – who earns £3.3million a year – has admitted he works from home and would not have accepted the job if he had to work in London five days a week.
Chief executive Mike Regnier spends up to two days a week working in the company’s main offices in Milton Keynes and London.
For the rest of the week, the 52-year-old works from his home in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, or travels the country to visit branches and other satellite offices.
He said last month: ‘I don’t think it’s absolutely vital that people spend all five days a week in the office as they did pre-Covid.
‘And, actually, had it not been for Covid, I wouldn’t have accepted this job, because I wouldn’t have wanted to be away from home five days a week in London. That wouldn’t have been good for the family or for me.’
Mike Regnier, chief executive of one of Britain’s biggest banks Santander, spends up to two days a week working in the company’s main offices in Milton Keynes and London
Yet earlier this year workers at Disney were called to return to the office for four days each week after managing director Bob Iger said ‘nothing can replace’ staff being physically together.
And Goldman Sachs chief executive David Solomon described working from home as an ‘aberration’ that was bad for collaboration and innovation.
Despite complaints about poor customer service, just 38 per cent of UK-based staff at His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs were at their desks on an average day last month, the Mail can reveal.
This number fell to as low as 24 per cent for mandarins based in the department’s Whitehall office.
