Openwork Partnership, one of the UK’s largest financial advice networks, is planning a staff return to a revised 5 day a week office working model from 6 September if the government further eases Covid-19 restrictions.

The company, which has 4,300 advisers, says that while it will open offices five days a week it will adopt a flexible approach to working with all staff able to work part time from home.

The company has recently doubled the number of staff who can work at its Swindon headquarters three days a week to 100 from 50 previously.

It says it plans to give all staff the ability to work five-days-a-week from the office from 6 September if government guidelines allow. Its other offices, including its London building, will also be fully opened as restrictions ease.

At the same time as it opens office doors once more the firm is also introducing a long-term switch to “hybrid flexible working” to provide staff with a better work/life balance while helping the company to move forward.

The new flexible approach will require staff to be available for core hours between 10am and 2pm but they can fit work around other commitments once agreed with teams and managers. Employees will be able to work all or part of the time in the office or work from home with visits to the office for meetings or for collaboration with colleagues. 

Staff, including the 100-plus who have joined during the Covid-19 pandemic and have never worked in the office, are being supported with a new Flexible Working Portal site which has guides and videos on new working practices and options.

Openwork asked staff for feedback on employment plans and many wanted increased flexibility over where to work. 

The firm says: “Colleagues are being trusted to choose where, when and how they work around their personal and professional commitments.”

Carrie Morris, chief people officer at The Openwork Partnership said: “Colleagues told us in surveys that they wanted more flexibility and we recognised that the world has changed and that the way we work needs to change too. 

“As we emerge from the Covid era some will be keen to stop working from home while others will be worried about returning to the office – importantly, no one will be expected to work in the office unless they are comfortable in doing so. We may all feel different after a few months of normal life so we may need to flex and adapt as time goes by.”

The Openwork Partnership is a directly authorised, multi-panel distribution network.