Rishi Sunak reflected on his own early career with investment bank Goldman Sachs, which he said benefitted from interactions with mentors in the workplace.
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak has advised young workers to look at returning to offices as the government's COVID-19 lockdown-related work from home guidance came to a close last month.
The senior Indian-origin Cabinet minister reflected on his own early career with investment bank Goldman Sachs, which he said benefitted from interactions with mentors in the workplace.
In an interview with LinkedIn News, the finance minister said he doubts he would have done as well in his professional life if he had started out virtually with currently popular tech platforms such as Zoom.
"I doubt I would have had those strong relationships if I was doing my summer internship or my first bit of my career over Teams and Zoom," said Sunak.
"That's why I think for young people in particular, being able to physically be in an office is valuable," he said.
The British government is keen for businesses to use the current summer break period to work on getting staff back into the offices, with most companies adopting a mixed bag approach to work from home. The recommendation is for a gradual return to work in England since restrictions were lifted on July 19, with the Scottish government wanting people to keep working at home until at least August 9, where possible.
Mr Sunak said the government would "expect and recommend" a gradual return to office working this summer "in keeping with everything else that we are doing, it's been gradual, it's cautious, it's careful".
"I've spoken previously about young people in particular benefiting from being in offices: it was really beneficial to me when I was starting out in my career," Mr Sunak said in the interview.
The senior Indian-origin Cabinet minister reflected on his own early career with investment bank Goldman Sachs, which he said benefitted from interactions with mentors in the workplace.
In an interview with LinkedIn News, the finance minister said he doubts he would have done as well in his professional life if he had started out virtually with currently popular tech platforms such as Zoom.
"I doubt I would have had those strong relationships if I was doing my summer internship or my first bit of my career over Teams and Zoom," said Sunak.
"That's why I think for young people in particular, being able to physically be in an office is valuable," he said.
The British government is keen for businesses to use the current summer break period to work on getting staff back into the offices, with most companies adopting a mixed bag approach to work from home. The recommendation is for a gradual return to work in England since restrictions were lifted on July 19, with the Scottish government wanting people to keep working at home until at least August 9, where possible.
Mr Sunak said the government would "expect and recommend" a gradual return to office working this summer "in keeping with everything else that we are doing, it's been gradual, it's cautious, it's careful".
"I've spoken previously about young people in particular benefiting from being in offices: it was really beneficial to me when I was starting out in my career," Mr Sunak said in the interview.