News release: No discernible increase in the number of office workers returning to the workplace on Freedom Day.

A straw poll of building managers conducted by Remit Consulting on Monday, 19 July, described by the government as "Freedom Day", showed that the majority of building managers around the country noticed no increase in the number of staff and visitors to office buildings compared to the previous Monday.

A handful of building managers reported, "a slight increase" in numbers.

Over recent weeks, Remit Consulting has been undertaking a study of the number of office workers returning to the workplace, carried out using data extracted from the automatic turnstile technology within over 150 major office buildings around the UK.

The Return Report is supported by the British Property Federation and the Property Advisors Forum, and the data is supplied by many of the country's largest firms of property managers.

Prior to 19 July, the study established that, overall, the average number of office staff attending their place of work on any given weekday was around 8-11%.

Lorna Landells of Remit Consulting said: "The straw poll of building managers was undertaken on one of the hottest days of the year, which coincided with a bank holiday in Scotland. It should also be remembered that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have not experienced the easing of COVID- 19 restrictions in the way that England has.

“It should also be remembered that our research has already established that Mondays and Fridays have been the quietest days of the week for visits to the office during the pandemic,” she added.