City firms send workers home as heatwave melts London

City firms have told their workers to stay away from the office this week as London is hit with a record June heatwave. 

Several multinational companies headquartered in the Square Mile have advised their employees to consider remote work in a bid to dodge the sweltering heat. 

Banking giant JP Morgan Chase is the biggest firm to have let their workers off the hook, while ING and Deutsche also dropped desk orders.

Investment firms M&G, bank Nomura and insurer Hiscox have also allowed their employees to work from home this week.

Big four consultants KPMG and Deloitte have existing flexible work rules in place which have allowed willing employees to dodge the office this week.

‘Yearning for the office A/C’

But some of the City firms that have loosened their office rules this week said many employees are opting to make the most of their employers’ air conditioning.

“A lot of people are yearning for the A/C of the office,” a person at one City firm said.

The Square Mile businesses which have allowed some workers to ditch the office this week account for more than 28,000 London-based employees.

Temperatures reached 34C in the City on Wednesday, with the Met Office warning that the heat could rise to as high as 38C in the capital later this week.

National Rail advised passengers to travel into London “only if absolutely necessary” on Wednesday and Thursday, as Avanti and c2c cancelled some train routes into the city.

Stay at home, say train firms

Extreme heat and humidity can hit labour productivity by reducing mental and physical performance, analysts at Oxford Economics said.

This week’s heatwave is expected to reduce labour productivity growth by 1.5 percentage points in the UK and up to two percentage points in the rest of Western Europe, the economics advisory said.

Oxford Economics said that high temperatures are most likely to impact the productivity of workers in the construction, agriculture, manufacturing, retail and hospitality sectors.

Last year, an analysis of broadband data by Virgin Media found that there was an eight per cent decline in internet traffic at 3-5pm on Fridays during the summer months, as remote workers clocked off early during hot weather.

A fifth of people surveyed said finishing work early before the weekend had become an informally accepted practice, despite no formal policy being in place, with a third admitting to doing so regularly with or without permission.