THE departing boss of Dorset employer Nationwide has said its “work from anywhere” policy is proving “tremendously successful” and can help staff with the cost of living.

The building society, which has around 1,200 staff in the Bournemouth area, decided during the pandemic to allow office workers to work wherever they felt they would be most effective.

The Daily Echo asked chief executive Joe Garner whether the flexible working policy was a permanent shift which would continue under new leadership and how it had affected the cost of living for staff.

Mr Garner, who was about to go on leave before handing over to successor Debbie Crosbie on June 2, said: “Being on my last day, I won’t make commitments about the future but what I can tell you is that the position we took and committed to really quite early on in the pandemic has been proving tremendously successful.

“We’ve seen increased member satisfaction, we’ve seen increased efficiency, we’ve seen increased employee engagement.

“Remember our policy is not home working, our policy is a really flexible one, and therefore I do think it provides options for people to optimise their cost of living because ultimately they have a high degree of choice over balancing the costs of heating their home and working at home relative to travelling to the office or different combinations of that at different times of the year etc.

“So it’s got to be a net helpful thing from a cost of living standpoint.”

Portman House, Nationwide's administration centre in Richmond Hill, Bournemouth, employs around 900 people and has been adapted for the new ways of working.

Mr Garner added: “One of the biggest benefits is seeing the career development that it’s now opened up for our people because we have now over 1,000 people who the flexibility’s enabled to take on new, more enriching, more fulfilling roles. So I’ve been really encouraged by that and I hope that paves the way for the future.”

Mr Garner's comments came in a conference call after Nationwide revealed that its pre-tax profit had nearly doubled to £1.6billion in the year to April, while underlying income rose 18 per cent to £3.9bn.

It said house prices might fall later this year and warned that inflation would place “significant pressure on household budgets, especially for those on lower incomes”.

Nationwide has also announced that staff will receive a pay rise of at least four per cent, with 4.5 per cent for the lower-paid, plus an annual bonus.

“In addition we are increasing the salary ranges for our lower paid roles, resulting in immediate salary uplifts for around 4,000 colleagues, who on average will receive an increase of around five per cent before the annual pay review, backdated to March 31, 2022,” a statement said.

“The strength of our financial performance is recognised in our Sharing in Success bonus award with a flat 9.47 per cent bonus given to all colleagues demonstrating our commitment to allow our colleagues to benefit from our success in delivering for our members. This award is paid in relation to three core metrics, these being, service against peer group, growth of committed members and costs.”