More than 1,000 Barclays staff have backed a letter opposing the bank’s tighter office rule, as Barclays hit by staff backlash over return to office rules spread across the lender’s UK workforce. The letter seeks exemptions for workers with commutes longer than 40 minutes and asks for a one-off payment to offset higher travel costs.
Rick Coyle, Unite’s national officer, said: “Thousands of employees have signed the letter and figures continue to rise”. He added: “Unite will be speaking to Barclays about the strength of feeling in the days ahead.”
Barclays and Unite split on rationale
Barclays has tightened its home working policy so senior leaders are expected to come into the office four days a week, while other staff are expected to come in three days a week. The current policy says thousands of full-time workers must be in the office two days a week, so the change pushes a large share of the bank’s workforce toward a more frequent commute and a higher time commitment in office.
Nearly 80 per cent of Barclays’ 45,000 UK staff are represented by Unite, giving the union a wide base for the dispute. Unite said 94 per cent of respondents to its latest survey wanted the changes delayed until consultations with the union had concluded.
Barclays says its minimum time-in-office requirements vary by business area, with most colleagues not already working in the office three days a week set to align with its broader approach across the bank. The lender also says its most senior leaders will spend an additional day in the office to support collaboration, decision-making and leadership visibility. Unite’s line is different: “Our members think that Barclays is trying to fix a problem that doesn’t exist”.
UK banks tighten office rules
The row sits inside a wider push by global banks to limit remote working after the pandemic, but the immediate issue for Barclays staff is practical: who keeps an exemption, who pays the extra cost of commuting, and how fast the bank is willing to move on the new rules. For employees living more than a 40 minute commute away, the letter draws a hard line that the current mandate does not.
Barclays is engaging with Unite on the issue, and Rick Coyle said the union would keep pressing the case in the days ahead. Whether Barclays grants any exemptions, compensation or delay after those talks is the unanswered part that now drives the dispute.
