Atom Bank ditches Durham base as staff earn a living from home

Unused: Atom Bank’s Durham HQ is only at a third of previous levels

Atom Bank will become the latest lender to abandon its offices because so many employees are working from home.

Chief executive Mark Mullen said attendance at the app-based bank’s headquarters in Durham is only at a third of previous levels and it will look for a new location in the North East of England.

The plan to move follows the decisions by larger rivals HSBC, Lloyds and TSB to switch offices or reduce space because of flexible working.

But unlike rival bosses, Mullen is not troubled by the trend and accuses some of those opposed to working from home of being ‘emotional’.

He said that while he likes being in the office, it is ‘not reasonable’ to expect younger employees to have to do so and that his focus was on building an efficient business wherever they are based. Atom has also, since 2021, allowed employees to work just four days a week.

Mullen told the Mail: ‘We occupy about one third of the space that we used to occupy in the office so we have reduced the lease agreements that we have with our landlords. We’ve adapted to that because the usage is much less.

We’re looking at moving to a new headquarters next year – it’ll definitely be in the North East but we’ll make a decision about which city in due course.’

Atom Bank employs around 500 staff, with a London office as well as its Durham base.

Working from home means some staff are based as far away as Inverness in the north of Scotland or in the south of England, Mullen said, though most are in the North East – around Durham or Newcastle.

He admitted that not being in the office made it harder to see how productive employees are – and employers’ systems need to be updated to find out.

But said conversations among senior executives and leaders in the industry suggested they ‘don’t feel comfortable’ about staff working from home, and that ‘creativity is being hindered’.

Mullen, however, said: ‘But it’s more about emotions and feeling than it is about facts. I like coming to the office.

‘I’m 35 years working – my heritage in working goes back well before the internet. It’s not reasonable that my paradigm should work for somebody who’s a digital native.’

Atom last week reported an operating profit of £27million for the year to the end of March, up from £4million.