LONDON (AP) — Working from home is the new normal for millions of people in the U.K., and Surrey County Cricket Club has spotted an opportunity to galvanize attendance at its south London ground.
Surrey, one of the most successful teams in England, is encouraging hybrid workers to come and do their jobs at The Kia Oval, the 180-year-old ground just south of the River Thames.
Over the winter, it upgraded the Wi-Fi and set aside work areas with desks, access to power and clear views of the game. “Work From Oval,” it’s been dubbed.
It pondered whether it is the “best home office in the country” and crucially assured would-be-workers that “we won’t tell your boss.”
Over the three home four-day County Championship matches it has hosted this season, hundreds have taken up the chance to work at the Oval.
England’s premier competition has been mocked for decades for its relatively low attendances — one man and his dog is a regularly voiced description, however unfair.
That certainly wasn’t the case at The Kia Oval on Friday when Surrey hosted Sussex on the first day of their match. Over 6,000 attended, the crowd swelled by the glorious weather and the prospect of a full-day — more than seven hours — of cricket ahead.
Though the ground has a capacity of around 27,500, that’s really not a bad crowd during a work day. The Oval does sell out for England test matches against other nations and for Surrey’s short-format games.
Harry Ashton, director of Elite Finance Solutions, usually works from a coworking space in nearby Wimbledon. He jumped at the chance of working at the Oval for just 15 pounds ($20).
“It’s not quite as good as Lytham Cricket Club,” he quipped, referencing his local club in the northwest of England.
Ashton was joined later by some friends, and after a few hours of work, they enjoyed a beer or two. It was Friday, after all, and the start of a three-day weekend as Monday is a public holiday in the U.K.
In recent years, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s been evident that many people at the Oval have their laptops to hand. Arguably, the shift toward hybrid work has become the main legacy of the pandemic.
Though more and more firms are forcing their staff to come into the office, more than a quarter of working adults in the U.K. work remotely part of the time, according to the Office for National Statistics. Critics argue that hybrid working is negatively impacting productivity, an individual’s work ethic and the wider economy as a whole.
All the evidence on this particular Friday was that the dozens or so working at the ground were doing just that. Numbers were crunched and Zoom calls were held.
“I have great belief in life generally, if you treat someone like an adult, they will behave like an adult,” said Neil Munro, owner of Munron Consulting Ltd. “I don’t see any downside provided everyone treats it with respect.”
Matthew Balch, a freelance marketing consultant and a keen club cricketer himself, thinks Surrey’s example should be taken up by others.
“I think all of the counties should lean into the remote worker-freelancer market to grow attendances,” he said.
Some workers were a bit more coy.
One 46-year-old woman working for a global company insisted on maintaining her anonymity, voicing concerns about how she would be perceived.
There’s still a stigma.