Do staff want to return to Sheffield city centre offices after months of home working?

Council chiefs need to increase footfall in the city centre to boost shops, cafes and bars and officers workers' spending power is crucial.

But many companies are not returning to the office yet due to social distancing restrictions while some staff say they have a better life balance and are more productive working from home.

As the country sees an increase in Covid cases and restrictions change constantly, it's understandable that bosses and employees want to make careful decisions about when and how to return.

The council itself admits there are benefits to home working. The Town Hall has saved a fortune on paper as it hasn't needed to print anything thanks to online meetings.

The authority, already struggling with an £82m overspend due to the pandemic, is also looking at whether to reorganise council buildings now more staff are working at home.

Jason Holyhead works for a large company in the city centre but is in no rush to return to the office.

"I had never considered working from home before. I thought I would hate being stuck within the same four walls, and miss seeing other colleagues and friends and I stayed in the office as long as possible, putting off the inevitable.

"Now, several months on I can't bear the thought of using public transport to get to a modified office that looks nothing like the one I used to know.

"I've found I have saved money working from home and have more time to relax and enjoy the things I work for. I see more of the kids and my wife too.

"With Skype, Teams, Zoom and all the other wonderful ways we have found to communicate, I still get my fix of interaction with other humans and I'm considering setting up a permanent office from home."

Developer Adam Murray says he understands some people may feel vulnerable but he thinks it’s important to get the economy ticking properly.

He's managing director of Urbana Town Planning and his team were back in the office, socially distanced, as soon as they could after lockdown.

"We’re lucky in that we have the space to distance and a young, healthy team.

"I think it’s immensely important for people to get back into the city centre and to their offices, as the city centre independents depend upon us.

"These provide the variety of choice and diversity that the city needs, and allow us to be the sociable beings that we are.

"The vitality of a city is driven by its centre, and while we’re now seeing more people living in the centre, we still need to drive a mixture of uses that give the city that buzz.

"Offices are important and necessary to our social interaction too. How we learn and grow throughout our career depends on understanding our colleagues and learning from them, this comes from the serendipity of the office environment and the interaction with those more experienced.

"In addition, the office provides a much stronger base and quality for creating the networks that enable us to forge stronger and more successful careers.

"At Urbana we saw a great level of new work instruction and activity throughout lockdown, however, we’ve seen a marked increase since returning to the office, which is encouraging for how we do things, how the office works, and for the city as a whole."

Joyce Bullivant sits on Sheffield Sustainable Network and says it was already discussing the city centre before lockdown hit.

"Already many firms have moved out to leafier suburbs so the idea that all firms want their offices to be central has to be outdated.

"Call centres do not need to be central either. My brother manned the phone for Sky broadband from his home.

"I just feel we have an opportunity to look at ways of spreading job opportunities out where normally the cost of travel and the cost of childcare is keeping people out of work.

"Every year Sheffield produces a report saying we need to have a cleaner city and fewer areas of inequality and yet they do the same thing over and over again and have an outdated idea that everything has to be based in the city centre.

"Money was spent on getting John Lewis to stay while they are closing their shops elsewhere because young shoppers don't want brands and department stores.

"Spending money on the Sheffield Castle site and developing it along the lines of Yorvik would bring more people into the city centre than propping up a failing idea of retailing."

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