Britain could be facing the end of working from home as companies crack down on staff and tell them to get back in the office before summer arrives.

JD Sports is the latest to hit out at home working - with some staff reportedly looking for new jobs as the sportswear giant told them to get back to their desks.

They follow the likes of Manchester United after Sir Jim Ratcliffe spectacularly told his workers to 'seek alternative employment' if they did not want to return to their commute.

And even schools are having to be tough on absences - as parents who work from home taking their children out has seen a stunning 20 per cent jump in absences on Fridays compared to Wednesdays.

But the move is likely to invoke the fury of employees themselves, with a quarter of Brits now wanting to work fully remotely after becoming used to not having to go into an office - as they dream of living all over the world. 

JD Sports is the latest to hit out at home working - with some staff reportedly looking for new jobs as the sportswear giant told them to get back to their desks

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Staff at JD sports have been left furious after they were told they need to come into the office from this summer.

The retailer says their introduction of hybrid working was a 'temporary' measure following the pandemic, but workers have got used to being at home.

Some say that they were even hired on the promise they would not have to come in full time - as they accuse bosses of bringing them back in to help them 'micromanage' their work. 

Staff who don't work in the stores will have to come into the office four days of every week, sources close to the company told Manchester Evening News, in a bid to help create a 'fair and consistent approach across global offices and stores'.

Speaking about the transition, a JD Sports spokesperson said: 'We introduced a temporary hybrid working policy for our office-based colleagues in response to the pandemic. 

'Colleague wellbeing and development has always been extremely important to JD, and we believe that having more colleagues in the office will help to further enhance personal development, collaboration, teamwork and provide more opportunities for learning.'

But the retailer is following in the footsteps of other companies, all frustrated with their employees working from home.

They include Manchester United's new billionaire co-owner has told the club's 1,000 employees to seek 'alternative employment' if they're not prepared to come to the office.

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Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who is seeking to restore the club's sporting reputation after buying a £1.25billion stake, said having all staff on site would allow greater productivity.

He said to have claimed email traffic fell by one-fifth when staff at one of his companies were allowed to spend Fridays at home.

His move comes after major multinationals including tech firms Google, Meta, Apple and Amazon have all been cracking down on 'hybrid working' practices which became widespread during the Covid pandemic in an effort to get people back to the office and boost productivity.

Confirming Sir Jim's warning, Manchester United chiefs yesterday instructed all employees who currently have hybrid working arrangements 'to return to the office permanently'.

In a mass email to staff they said 'connection and collaboration' throughout the business had been identified as key targets of the 'new era' as part of the drive to bring footballing success back to Old Trafford.

It said: 'We believe this connection and collaboration is best achieved when everyone works together in close proximity.

'Although hybrid working has some benefits, it cannot replace the value of people being physically together.'

It comes after Sir Jim berated the untidiness of some offices and changing rooms after a tour of the club's Old Trafford stadium and Carrington training ground, branding their state 'a disgrace' in a leaked email.

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However workers at the club - which has a vast commercial payroll in addition to the sporting side of the business - are understood to have pointed out there is currently insufficient office space to accommodate everybody.

In addition, many employees are said to be on flexible contracts which specifically permit them to work on a hybrid basis.

Club sources said 'only a handful' of staff had contracts which stated they were not required to come into the office, with the bosses looking at finding extra workspace to accommodate everyone, potentially through renting.

The move comes as the club struggles on the pitch, currently sitting eighth in the Premier League, with Sir Jim aiming to transform it from top to bottom using lessons learnt from INEOS, the chemical firm he turned into a multi-billion pound corporation.

And as bosses get frustrated with employees working from home, teachers have raised concerns that it is leading to their children also bunking off from school.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has blamed parents working from home for an 'unacceptable' spike in school absences on Fridays.

An analysis of Government figures has shown unauthorised absences are 20 per cent higher on Fridays than Wednesdays.

Ms Keegan said schools were facing 'major challenges' with parents taking their children out of the classrooms for long weekends or holidays without permission.

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Writing in The Times, the Education Secretary said: 'There are still major challenges with data showing unauthorised holiday absence increasing by 25 per cent.

'There are regularly 50,000 more pupil absences on a Fridays compared with Mondays, which could be linked with many parents working from home.'

The Cabinet minister said that being in school was 'fundamental to a child's future success in life' as she vowed to improve attendance rates as her 'top priority'.

She also set out her intention to restore social norms about children attending school every day, as she admitted the Covid pandemic 'had a major impact on school attendance'.

'We are very clear: it is unacceptable to take a deliberate decision to take your child out of school,' the Education Secretary said. 

The newspaper's analysis of Government data showed absence rates rose from 4.7 per cent in 2019 to 7.6 per cent in 2021 and remain at 7 per cent.

According to daily data for the current academic year, overall absence rates are 6.6 per cent on Wednesdays, rising to 7.8 per cent on Fridays.

The trend was even more pronounced for unauthorised absences, which are 20 per cent higher on Fridays than Wednesdays.

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The gap is biggest in primary schools, suggesting parents rather than pupils are driving the spike in Friday absences.

Primary pupils are 21 per cent more likely to be absent on Friday and 24 per cent more likely to be absent without reason.

But moves to bring Britain back to the office could spike fury - as researchers found 23 per cent of people want to work fully remotely so that they can live anywhere in the world while working for companies based in the UK.

Generation Z are the keenest to re-locate - with 44 per cent of those aged 18 to 24 saying working from home could be extended to working from abroad. 

Millennials are the next keenest with 35 per cent of 25 to 39-year-olds believing if they are allowed to work from home they should be allowed to relocate internationally. 

Those aged 40 to 55 - Generation X - and are less keen with 27 believing they should be allowed to work from abroad.

And the Baby Boomer generation - those aged over 55 - shun the idea, with just 17 per cent attracted to it.

The International money app Zing asked 2,000 UK adults if they believed the working from home culture should be extended to allow them to work from abroad.

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James Allen, founder and CEO of Zing, said: 'Our research shows that opinions on remote working internationally are evolving across all age groups in the UK.

'Accelerated by Covid-19 lockdowns, employees are increasingly exploring opportunities to work remotely across the globe.

'Remote working presents exciting opportunities including the chance to immerse yourself in different cultures over an extended period.'

A Mail on Sunday investigation in February found the NHS has allowed hundreds of staff, including senior consultants and managers, to work thousands of miles from the UK. 

Freedom of Information requests showed staff were working in places as far flung as Australia and Japan with at least 335 NHS staff from 33 trusts being allowed to work abroad in the past two years.

The real number is certain to be much higher as 200 trusts and bodies did not respond to the FoI requests and 35 said they did not hold such data.

In September last year, it emerged 1,350 council staff have also been granted permission to work from overseas following Freedom of Information requests by the Taxpayers' Alliance.

The number jumped from 73 approvals in 2021-22 to 440 in 2021-22.

It then surged to more than 700 last year as the remote-working revolution took hold.

One local authority granted 300 requests over the three-year period.

Overall researchers found that more than half - 62 per cent of Generation Z - now believe at least a part of their working life will now be spent abroad.

And 17 per cent across all ages said they do not want to be restricted by their company to only working in the UK.