Almost two thirds of employees are travelling to work as people return to their offices after the coronavirus pandemic.

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show 62 per cent said they commuted to work last week - up from 36 per cent when the first survey took place in late May.

While some are mixing where they work, the figures showed 20 per cent continue to work exclusively from home.

And 10 per cent of the workforce remain on furlough as the job retention scheme winds down towards its withdrawal at the end of next month.

Research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said many workers will continue to work from home.

A survey of 1,000 employers revealed 37 per cent think staff will avoid the journey into work - a figure which stood at 18 per cent before the coronavirus pandemic.

CIPD chief executive Peter Cheese said: "The step-change shift to home working to adapt to lockdowns has taught us all a lot about how we can be flexible in ways of working in the future.

"Employers have learned that, if supported and managed properly, home working can be as productive and innovative as office working and we can give more opportunity for people to benefit from better work-life balance.

"But it doesn't suit everyone and increasingly organisations will have to design working arrangements around people's choice and personal preference over where and when they would like to work, whilst also meeting the needs of the business."