Frasers Group has banned its staff from working from home on Fridays.

The retailer, which owns Sports Direct and House of Fraser, has completely ended its flexible working policy, which was introduced during the pandemic, and has now said its staff must be in the office all week.

Mike Ashley, chief executive of Frasers Group, shared an internal memo which stated that ‘Fraser Fridays’ had become an ‘unproductive day of the week’, according to reporting by the Sun, with social media activity indicating to Ashley that its staff were not viewing Friday as a normal working day.

A Frasers Group spokesperson told the Guardian: “We have an incredible workforce of dedicated colleagues, and in-person collaboration is key to how we deliver value together.”

They added: “We believe that we are all at our best when we work together in an office environment.”

Between October to December 2019 and January to March 2022, home working in the UK more than doubled from 4.7 million to 9.9 million people, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The City of London has previously announced plans to ‘repurpose’ office buildings left empty by the pandemic into at least 1,500 new homes by 2030.

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