This led to many employees steering clear of the office on Mondays and Fridays, earning them the nickname “TWaTs” – in reference to only going in on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
However, this has had a significant impact on the pub trade, which benefitted from Friday being a peak time for drinkers.
It comes as employers push to increase the amount of time workers spend in the office.
Some companies have already ordered staff back full-time, while others have introduced incentives to lure workers back.
Mr Emeny said: “People that I speak to are thriving being back in offices again, thriving working as teams and we’re certainly seeing that in our sales on Mondays and Fridays.
“I feel very optimistic that over the course of time, homeworking is going to dissipate.”
Fuller’s, which runs around 369 pubs across the UK, posted a 61pc rise in adjusted pre-tax profits from £12.7m to £20.5m over the year to 30 March, spurred by an 11pc rise in like-for-like sales.
However, Mr Emeny warned the inflationary crisis was “certainly not over” despite the headline rate falling to 2.3pc, as he said a recent jump in the National Living Wage had increased cost pressures on pubs.
Mr Emeny said: “We’ve got some deflation, particularly around food. But I think the biggest cost of running a pub is around labour.”
Ahead of the general election in July he urged the eventual winner to reform business rates.
He said: “Every single Conservative manifesto since 2010 has promised a reform of business rates, which is long overdue.
“The society and the world that we compete in now has to recognise that just putting the 100pc of the burden on bricks and mortar retailers is unsustainable and they have to find a way of collecting a greater proportion of tax from online retailers.”
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
