The governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, has said that he wants more staff to return to the office.

During an interview on podcast Jimmy’s Jobs of the Future, the governor said he was worried that new staff members will struggle to gain new skills with seasoned staff members working from home.

“We all face the challenge of how do we make sure that the staff that join us get the same benefits we all got when we joined the organisation of being able to work with and interact with people who’ve been here and learn from them,” said Bailey. “I worry about the new staff, the young staff coming in, who I think for the last two years it’s been far more difficult for them than we want it to be to acquire that knowledge and understanding of how things are done - so for that reason it’s important that people come to work more.”

He did say that the bank had been surprised at how much its staff could do from home, including processes like real-time gross settlement.

Bailey also defended the bank’s decision to allow its employees to work from home four days a week, which has faced criticism from the media and parliament.

“I know people take very different views on the coming to work question, and I know I get sort of criticised by some newspapers on this, but as employers we’re all having to face the fact that we’re having to recruit people in a job market where that is increasingly part of the work life balance,” he told host of the podcast and former Downing Street adviser Jimmy McLoughlin. “It has to be said, organisations have proved that you can do more things with home working than you thought you could.”

Bailey spoke about the need for data science expertise having grown and how this is likely to continue to be a key skill needed at the bank.

He also highlighted the importance of ensuring diversity and inclusion at the bank and its responsibility as a public company to reflect the society it serves.

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