Thursday is the new Friday for UK office workers

The working week now follows a different rhythm. According to ONS data from April 2025, 14% of adults in Great Britain said they had exclusively worked from home in the past seven days, 41% had exclusively worked away from home, and 26% had done hybrid working.

This evolution of working patterns creates new opportunities for city-centre and suburban hospitality businesses, and for retailers with strong fulfilment infrastructure, says financial group Barclays.

A new report published by the group shows consumers are spending more time and money in their local communities, driving a shift in economic activity away from central business districts and towards neighbourhoods and digital platforms.

Other trends identified by the group include:

Thursday is the new Friday: Office culture is evolving, with many employees treating Thursday as the unofficial end of the week, reshaping traditional workplace routines and urban footfall.
Local businesses are being boosted on work-from-home days: While city centres now peak midweek, local high streets are thriving as remote workers spend more time and money closer to home.
More demand for click and collect: Demand for near-home fulfilment is rising as consumers prioritise convenience and flexibility in how they shop, driven by hybrid working patterns and changing lifestyles.

“The rise of hybrid working has reshaped consumer routines and directed more spending towards local economies. As people spend more time in their neighbourhoods, local businesses are key beneficiaries of this behavioural shift,” Barclays said.

The group’s data shows 19% of consumers say they now spend more money in their local area than they did before the Covid-19 lockdowns. 22% value local and independent businesses more than they did pre-pandemic, and 22% now have more products delivered directly to their homes.

Remote-working trend to get government push

The government is working on employment reforms, which will make flexible working more feasible and should make remote working ‘the default’.

Speaking in Geneva this week, Employment Rights Minister Justin Madders said his government is working to introduce day one protections against unfair dismissal, the right to guaranteed hours, and make flexible working the default – all of which will put money back into the pockets of working people.

Flexible working is already a day one right, thanks to legislation introduced by the former Conservative government, which came into effect from 1 April 2024.

This means employees can request flexible working from their first day of employment, instead of needing to wait for 26 weeks’ service, notes legal firm Lewis Silkin.

Employers can refuse a request based on one or more of the eight business reasons listed in legislation. These are: