NatWest Orders 13,000 Staff Into Office Two Days a Week
NatWest scraps its remote-first policy, requiring nearly 40,000 UK employees to work in-office at least twice weekly by February 2027.
NatWest Group has told approximately 13,000 employees that they must sharply increase their office attendance, moving from a minimum of two days per month to two days per week, a move that has drawn sharp criticism from the bank's staff union. The policy change represents one of the most significant rollbacks of flexible working arrangements at a major British financial institution in recent years.
The new requirement will apply to virtually all of NatWest's nearly 40,000 UK-based workers and is set to take full effect in February 2027. The bank operates under several well-known brands in the United Kingdom, including Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest, Ulster Bank, and Coutts, meaning the mandate spans a broad and diverse workforce.
Read more Waitrose Opens First New Supermarket in Eight Years in London →
The directive effectively dismantles a remote-first policy that had been in place for a segment of the workforce, signaling a broader cultural shift within the organization toward prioritizing physical presence. NatWest joins a growing number of large employers — particularly in financial services — that have been tightening in-office expectations following years of pandemic-era flexibility.
The bank's staff union has voiced strong opposition to the decision, characterizing the abrupt reversal as damaging to employees who structured their lives around the existing arrangement. The tension between management and labor over return-to-office mandates has become an increasingly common flashpoint across the UK corporate landscape, with unions arguing that remote flexibility has become an essential workplace right rather than a temporary concession.
Continue reading at Business | The Guardian
