As the UK went into lockdown, most people were either furloughed or forced to work from home where they can, and for those who adapted to this new way of working - and living - it is possible that they now have more money in their pocket than normal.
This extra money has come from the lack of spending on travel, food and clothing expenses, according to a survey commissioned by Eskenzi PR.
The poll of more than 1,000 people found that 30% saved on lunches by working from home, 60% of people saved money by not going out, and 50% saved on commuting costs.
According to the study, almost 90% of those employed in the financial sector reported savings. Similarly, those in IT, Legal, HR and Education also managed to increase their savings during the months of lockdown. Even key workers were able to save, despite still having to commute to work.
Some 65% of retail workers, builders and manual labourers reported being better off financially since March 2020.
Food has been a big contributor, with 30% of respondents citing this as one of the main reasons they were able to save money. Workers managed to save an average of £820 over the six-month lockdown period just by making lunch at home.
Based on the average cost of eating out at lunch of £3.56, Monday to Friday, workers saved around £8.1bn on out-of-home lunches nationwide.
In addition to this, government schemes such as Eat Out to Help Out contributed to some tasty savings. These financial benefits have led 35% of respondents to cite their ability to save by working from home as one of the reasons why they are not looking forward to returning to office life.
Yvonne Eskenzi, co-founder of Eskenzi PR, said: “Eskenzi PR’s survey shows that workers aren’t keen to rush back to work full time with saving costs by not commuting and buying lunches being a major factor. However, for 40% they’re ready to go back to work for 2 to 3 days a week.
“It all comes down to the employers now – will most of them allow their staff the freedom to work flexibility?
“My gut feeling as the Director of an international PR agency, is that it’s going to happen whether employers like it or not as a revolution has happened right under our noses.”
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