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Businesses across the country shut their doors or reduced opening hours despite Britons returning to work after the festive period. Industry experts have warned staff shortages will continue to blight employers while the Omicron variant surges through the country.

More than half of office workers had expected to be back at their desks from Tuesday before the latest Covid wave took hold, The Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management (IWFM) said.

The appeal of working from home all the time has worn thin for many, its survey of around 1,100 people found.

Linda Hausmanis, chief executive of the IWFM, said: “The first working day of 2022 is a missed opportunity for millions of office workers and for UK business – three quarters of us will be excluded from our first choice of workplace this week. 

“Of course it is right that public safety comes first, but the costs to the economy and people’s health from poorly planned work spaces must not be forgotten.

“Hybrid working should offer the best of two worlds but for far too many of us it offers the worst of both.”

Ms Hausmanis said she was concerned about the impact of WFH on younger workers.

She said: “Younger home workers are especially at risk from isolation and a lack of safe working spaces. 

“If hybrid is the future as most predict, employers must step up, review their workplace strategies in relation to the learnings of the last two years or risk losing their workforce to resignations and illness.”

Office attendance is expected to recover this year with 60 percent of people believing they will return full-time to the office, and a further 23 percent at least three days a week.

Comment by Mike Cherry, National Chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses

After huge Christmas disruption, small firms now face the prospect of large-scale staff absences.

The Health Secretary has rightly moved us towards a test and release model ‑ with lateral flow tests the crucial innovation. The question now is, what else can be done to safely avoid a damaging pingdemic?

If there is a chance that isolation time can be reduced without increasing the risk of worsening the health situation, why would Ministers not consider it?

Doing so starts with assessing the potential for reducing England’s self-isolation period for the vaccinated from seven days to five, as is policy in the US. If this can be done without increasing the risk of transmitting the virus, then this must be looked at.

Equally, the workplace testing scheme in England, which closed last July, should be relaunched.

Ventilation grants ‑ to help small firms make their premises more Covid-secure for the long term ‑ and a significant shoring up of lateral flow test supplies would also mark steps forward.

Businesses being hit hardest by self-isolation rules are often among those which have borne the brunt of trade disruption to date: community businesses that bring people together.

Hospitality firms have had a tough winter so far, and January, even in normal times, is usually tougher still with bad weather, post-Christmas credit card bills, and Dry January intersecting to suppress demand.

Independent retailers which couldn’t build up cash buffers over the festive season are also facing real difficulty ‑ limiting opening hours because of staff absence will make matters worse.

Gyms, which see January as a golden month as new year’s resolutions are set out in earnest, would also be hurt by mass self-isolation.

We saw small business confidence fall every quarter of last year. Getting test and release rules right will be integral to reversing that trend, especially with looming tax hikes, spiking energy costs, and soaring input prices all a reality.

The emergency business support unveiled before Christmas is welcome, but may not prove enough to forestall widespread closures.

Small firms are already massively up against it on many fronts. It’s time for the Government to test, trace ‑ and innovate.

See the latest Covid vaccine stats below and visit InYourArea for all the Covid vaccine latest

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