Covid crisis proves tech can replace office space and support cost-cutting at Barclays
Summary
Barclays Bank is to look at ways of cutting costs by reducing the office space it uses, after working-from-home policies and technology have proved successful during the Covid-19 pandemic. During its latest financial results statement, Tushar Morzaria, finance director at Barclays, said the bank has learned a lot through the pandemic. “We haven’t made any decisions on this – I think these are very long-term issues, and we want to be thoughtful and deliberate.” Many staff will not take too much convincing to swap the daily commute for the home office. A few months later, Staley said Barclays wanted to get its people back into some offices, with, for example, “a major presence in places like Canary Wharf” maintained. Chris Vogelzang, the bank’s CEO, said: “This experience has proved that there is so much untapped potential in the virtual workspace that we need to explore and use to create a more attractive and flexible workplace, while still maintaining the inspiration, energy and social connection that comes with belonging to a physical team and environment.”