These are the City jobs that let you work from home
Those with higher pay packets are more likely to be able to work from home, official data revealed today, as companies begin to focus on flexible working for their staff.
Wealthier workers such as actuaries, economists and statisticians are the most likely to be able to work from home, attracting an average salary of £22.94 an hour.
Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed those in management, technical and administrative jobs are also in the higher rankings, given the limited amount of required face-to-face contact, physical activity or use of tools or equipment.
IT directors and legal professionals were among the highest earning roles with the most flexibility in where they work, bringing home £36.33 and £39.48 an hour respectively.
Chief executives and senior officials, whose average earnings are £44.08 an hour, are the highest paid. Financial managers and directors (£31.38) and programmers and software development professionals (£21.97) also scored highly.
The median earnings of employees in the 20 per cent of the UK’s workforce most likely to be able to work from home is £19.01 per hour.
In comparison, workers in the 20 per cent of jobs least likely to be adaptable to home working bring in an average of just £11.28.
Those in elementary occupations — including cleaners, waiting staff and security guards — together with process, plant and machine operatives, are much less likely to be able to work remotely.
Many roles which are designated as key workers during the pandemic are the least likely to be able to work from home, including police officers, hospital staff and firefighters.
Top roles that are most able to work from home
Occupation | Median salary (hourly) |
1. Actuaries, economists, statisticians | £22.94 |
2. IT professionals | £36.33 |
3. Legal professionals | £39.48 |
4. Financial and investment advisers | £19.15 |
5. Chief executives, senior directors | £44.08 |
6. Brokers | £26.17 |
7. Project managers | £24.66 |
8. Advertising and PR directors | £29.29 |
9. Management consultants | £21.28 |
10. Sales and business development managers | £22.42 |
The top 20 per cent of staff most likely to be able to work from home are fairly representative of the gender split in the workforce as a whole, with 49 per cent of workers in those roles being women.
However when looking at the top fifth of workers least likely to be able to work from home, men make up 75 per cent of those roles, compared with 48 per cent of the whole UK workforce.
Only 12 of the 103 jobs in this group have a majority of women in them, which includes police community support officers, vets and radiographers.
Many of the remaining jobs, which are largely manual, are dominated by men: for example, only one per cent of plumbers, carpenters and joiners are women.
Meanwhile the ONS said workers based in London and the south-east are most likely to be able to work from home, largely caused by the high concentration of finance and IT jobs in the capital.
Before lockdown measures were implemented across the UK, approximately six per cent of the workforce worked from home. However of those surveyed this month, around 27 per cent of the UK’s workers are now working exclusively remotely.