Top hybrid work development stats from firms within the UK for 2023

Three years have handed because the WHO declared the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, and while in some elements of the world, the worst appears to be behind us, the pandemic’s impression has lingered on in our day by day life, particularly within the work world.

For instance, various individuals and companies tried out distant work for the primary time throughout COVID-19. While some have since returned to the workplace full-time over the previous 12 months as we’ve entered the “new normal”, hybrid, versatile, and asynchronous work proceed to be common in a post-pandemic world.

With the assistance of market analysis company OnePoll, we carried out a survey of 1000 UK workplace staff and information staff from a variety of ranges and industries to carry you a number of key insights on present hybrid office tendencies and the way forward for work.

Read on to study extra!

Key hybrid work statistics and hybrid work tendencies for 2023

• Just 30% of UK firms are working totally on-site in the present day, versus 57% earlier than the pandemic.
• Over 40% of survey respondents declare that their firms have shifted to a hybrid mannequin because the world pandemic.
• There has been an virtually 10% enhance in firms choosing versatile work preparations since earlier than the pandemic.
• Fully-remote work stays pretty unusual however has doubled in reputation, leaping from 4% in a pre-pandemic world to 8% now.

Employees love the liberty and suppleness of the hybrid work mannequin, but it surely’s not with out its issues

Hybrid work has turn into an growing development within the UK, and its reputation has remained regular because the pandemic. In normal, present methods of working are assembly worker expectations, with practically 80% of staff reporting they’re happy with the present mannequin in place at their firm.

But opinions on hybrid work are complicated—whereas some staff benefit from the freedom, others wrestle with the isolation of working from residence. Survey respondents mentioned their favorite perks of hybrid work had been: 

• Less time spent commuting (46%)
• Better work-life stability (43%)
• Increased productiveness (34%)

On the opposite hand, they felt that hybrid work’s fundamental drawbacks had been: 

• Feeling disconnected from their workforce (23%)
• Not sufficient nose to nose interplay (21%)
• Having too many distractions at residence (18%)

Undoubtedly, the flexibility to work remotely for a part of the time has its perks. The common commute time within the UK is about half an hour, in response to Transport Statistics Great Britain (TSGB), so many UK residents can save an hour or extra per day with residence working (and likewise take pleasure in some price financial savings on gas.)

This leaves staff with extra time to spend with their households, and will increase the quantity they’ll get achieved in the course of the workday—therefore the opposite two advantages talked about above (higher work-life stability and elevated productiveness.)

However, there are additionally some downsides to distant and hybrid work. Not everybody has entry to a properly-equipped, personal residence workplace house or work location. But a cushty and distraction-free workspace is essential for psychological and bodily wellness, and avoiding burnout.

In addition, it could be tough for workers to really feel that they can talk simply or that their concepts are being heard whereas working remotely. In-person meetups are essential for firm tradition, because the nose to nose interplay can stimulate creativity and promote psychological well being. While video conferencing (like Zoom or Microsoft Teams) is a handy strategy to talk, it might’t totally change in-person interplay.

The workplace is right here to remain, with a majority of firms setting a particular variety of on-site days

There are many variations on a hybrid work schedule, with some firms leaning extra in direction of distant and others leaning extra in direction of in-person workplace work. While firms don’t at all times require their hybrid staff to spend a particular variety of days within the workplace, the overwhelming majority (69%) do.

UK firms are typically versatile on the quantity of in-office days they require, with most (59%) requiring three days or fewer of weekly workplace attendance. Of the survey respondents who mentioned their employer required a specific amount of workplace attendance:

• 22% had been required to enter the workplace at the least 3 times every week
• 24% had been requested to go in twice every week
• 13% had been solely required to go in as soon as every week

Employees have blended emotions in regards to the variety of days they’re required to enter the workplace. Although 42% say they wouldn’t change something about their present working preparations, 30% say they’d ideally favor extra flexibility, and 23% say they would favor to go to the workplace much less.

In addition, many UK staff discover their employer’s distant working insurance policies unclear. Nearly 28% of staff are not sure whether or not their firms are monitoring workplace attendance or not. An further 25% are not sure whether or not they’re permitted to work remotely from overseas or not.

Improving communication with hybrid staff—and ensuring expectations round distant work and workplace work are clear—could contribute to enhancing UK staff’ perceptions of their hybrid work schedules.

Meeting colleagues in particular person is a vital a part of working life

The majority of survey respondents felt there have been many advantages to assembly colleagues in particular person. 58% mentioned the primary advantage of in-person collaboration was creating a way of belonging throughout the workforce, whereas 43% mentioned they consider it boosts productiveness and creativity.

Other vital advantages cited had been that individuals work higher when assembly in particular person (34%), and that it fosters firm tradition (32%). Only 19% claimed they thought assembly in particular person wasn’t vital in any respect. 

Since many contributors thought assembly in particular person was essential for creating a way of belonging and staying artistic, it’s not stunning that they used their time within the workplace to have 1:1 conferences with their groups or managers (33%), and meet new workforce members (30%). Other common in-office actions had been brainstorming and technique periods (22%), and social occasions (20%).

Building camaraderie and staying related with different workforce members is clearly a really excessive precedence for UK professionals. Not solely did survey respondents spotlight this as one in all their best considerations about hybrid work, additionally they discovered it to be one of many best advantages of in-person working. 

While staff spend numerous time connecting with their colleagues within the workplace, they’ll additionally accomplish that via firm offsites and workforce constructing occasions. For distributed hybrid and distant groups, most of these occasions could require some journey. However, they supply an important alternative to see others in particular person, take pleasure in a singular social {and professional} expertise, and get a few of that nose to nose interplay that hybrid staff and distant staff crave. 

In normal, workforce constructing has been proven to have an vital impression on firm tradition, the worker expertise, and office well-being, making a optimistic work setting and driving enterprise efficiency. In truth, as much as 55% of worker engagement is pushed by this kind of non-financial recognition, according to McKinsey. And knowledge from Gallup present that highly-engaged enterprise items take pleasure in decrease absenteeism and better worker productiveness. 

Social occasions and workforce constructing occasions also can kind an vital a part of an organization’s individuals and tradition provide, serving to them construct their employer model and entice prime expertise. 

Even although UK staff consider within the worth of in-person interplay, many firms don’t empower them to get collectively recurrently

Unfortunately, not all staff have the prospect to learn from in-person occasions and get-togethers with their workforce. In our survey, practically 1 / 4 of hybrid groups and over half of distant groups mentioned they by no means received collectively for in-person workforce constructing or social actions. 

However, hybrid groups usually tend to maintain these gatherings than distant groups, and so they additionally have a tendency to carry them extra ceaselessly. 19% of hybrid groups meet for such actions as soon as a month, versus simply 6% of distant groups. Most distant groups meet solely as soon as 1 / 4 (17%) or annually (19%).

Although many distant and hybrid groups don’t meet up recurrently, they nonetheless sometimes meet up for annual occasions with the complete firm. 65% of respondents mentioned their organisation held these gatherings at the least annually, with practically 40% opting to carry them annually, and 20% assembly 2-3 occasions a 12 months. 

The hottest varieties of company-wide occasions had been:

• Seasonal events, equivalent to Christmas, vacation, or summer time events (45%)
• Team constructing occasions (27%) 
• Conferences, exhibitions, and summits (23%)

Other common varieties of firm occasions embody:

• In-office social occasions, equivalent to Friday drinks (19%)
• Employee recognition occasions, equivalent to worker of the month/quarter (17%)
• In-person offsites and retreats (11%)

These occasions are an incredible probability to bond, break down silos, and join with staff in different departments. However, in contrast to a daily workforce assembly they’re extra centered on large-group actions, relatively than one-on-one brainstorming and socialising. Both company-wide occasions and smaller workforce gatherings are key methods to strengthen skilled relationships.

To pull off any kind of profitable firm occasion, coordinating group journey is crucial—however managing bookings, agendas, and conferences for a number of travellers can get sophisticated fairly rapidly. Luckily, this course of might be made a lot less complicated with the fitting journey administration software program. This kind of software program may help you save time, keep organised, and profit from company journey reductions when planning journey to an occasion.  

If you solely need to learn the abstract…

There’s rather a lot to soak up right here! Whether you’re a human sources supervisor, a individuals and tradition determination maker, a workforce supervisor, or a C-suite enterprise chief making an attempt to determine how issues will work at your organization within the subsequent 12 months and past, right here’s a fast overview of the important thing takeaways from our survey:

• A big variety of UK firms have shifted to a hybrid mannequin because the pandemic, and are nonetheless working that approach in the present day.
• With hybrid and distant work choices, staff take pleasure in higher work-life stability and fewer time spent commuting. Still, they miss interacting with their colleagues nose to nose, and a few wrestle with a sense of being disconnected from their workforce.
• Most hybrid firms require a sure variety of in-office workdays, usually two or three days per work week. However, many staff are unclear about their organisation’s workplace attendance insurance policies.
• The majority of survey respondents suppose assembly in-person is crucial for fostering a way of belonging inside groups, and so they prioritise going into the workplace to satisfy new teammates.
• While many organisations collect in particular person at the least annually for company-wide occasions, not all groups get to satisfy their colleagues recurrently for smaller occasions—and this is applicable particularly to distant staff.