The Daily Update: Returning to Work / Food Wastage

According to a survey from analytics firm Locatee, just 17% of London office workers say they want to return to the office full time, however, only 24% of firms expect their employees back full-time at the moment. One incentive that would convince more to return to the office would be cold hard cash, approximately £5,000 according to research by YouGov, coincidently about the same amount of an annual rail ticket between London and some of the most popular commuter towns.

It's not only those settled in their careers that want the new hybrid working arrangement. The Locatee survey also noted nearly one third of jobseekers now expect to work from home at least two days each week, although most still rank salary first when looking for new jobs, nearly 50% now cite flexible working as one of their top requirements.

Chief executive officer and founder of Locatee, Thomas Kessler, believes that although many companies want their staff back, they are willing to be flexible to keep their employees happy. ‘The appetite for remote working will remain high for the foreseeable future’ he said. Nevertheless, he warned the ‘importance of physical office space in underpinning company culture should not be underestimated, particularly after a year of reduced colleague interaction’. This is demonstrated in the fact that almost half of 18- to 24-year-olds worry that remote working could hinder their career progression.

The survey from Locatee will shock few people, however a report from the World Wildlife Fund and Tesco should shock everyone. The report called Driven to Waste, found that an estimated 2.5 billion tonnes of food goes uneaten around the world each year. That is an increase of approximately 1.2 billion tonnes on the previous estimates of 1.3 billion tonnes wasted each year. The wastage, accounting for about 40% OF ALL PRODUCTION, was either lost on farms or by consumers and retailers.

The increased estimate of 1.2 billion tonnes wasted equates to a landmass larger than the Indian subcontinent and water volume equivalent to 304 million Olympic swimming pools - and this does not include the additional resources used to produce food that is wasted further down the supply chain