Andy Haldane

Mr Haldane said that fewer day-to-day conversations, face-to-face meetings and introductions posed risks that “may not yet be fully visible”.

He argued that virtual discussions held via online platforms failed to build trust and strengthen workplace relationships in the same was as informal conversations. He urged that this could not be done indefinitely.

His concern arrives as employers across the UK consider the long-term future of remote working as the coronavirus pandemic forced offices and workplaces to close. Yesterday, Lloyds Banking Group revealed that its staff will be told to work from home until at least next spring to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Mr Haldane warned that creativity was being dampened and working relationships tested.

He said such costs could “detract from both our productivity and our happiness at work”, he said in a lecture delivered earlier this month but released by the Bank yesterday.

While some have seized upon remote working as a chance to escape busy offices for the peace and quiet of home, Mr Haldane believes that the lack of distraction and noise of the conventional office is not always a good thing.

He said: “Exposure to new and different experiences - sounds, smells, environments, ideas, people – is a key source of creative spark. These external stimuli are fuel for our imaginations and the imagined, made real, is what we typically mean by creativity.”

Mr Haldane said: “Home-working means serendipity is supplanted by scheduling, face-to-face by Zoom-to-Zoom. What creativity is gained in improved tunnelling is lost in the darkness of the tunnel itself. I imagine some people will have used lockdown to write that creative novel they always knew was in them. I doubt many will become modern-day classics.

“If you asked me if I am happier working from home, I genuinely would not know. I do not miss the commute. But I feel acutely the loss of working relationships and external stimuli.”