UK remote and hybrid work overview
- In 2019, prior to the Covid pandemic, just 4.7% of UK employees worked from home (WISERD)
- By April 2020, 46.6% of employees did at least part of their job from home (ONS)
- 86% of those did so specifically because of the pandemic (ONS)
- In 2022, a quarter (25%) of UK employees worked from home at least some of the time (ONS)
- 13% were working from home all of the time in 2022 (ONS)
Worldwide, 91% of workers have a “positive” view of remote working (Buffer)
Fully remote vs office vs hybrid working in the UK
- Between 22 May and 2 June 2024, working arrangements among UK workers were as follows (ONS):
- Only worked from home: 14% (compares to 38% in June 2020)
- Travelled to work and worked from home: 26%
- Distribution of days worked from home over a week (ONS):
- Monday: 58%
- Tuesday: 67%
- Wednesday: 64%
- Thursday: 63%
- Friday: 65%
- Saturday: 6%
- Sunday: 7%
Employee and employer attitudes towards working from home (ONS)
- In May 2022, remote and hybrid workers reported the following advantages to home working:
In May 2022, remote and hybrid workers reported the following disadvantages to home working:
- In 2021, businesses gave the following reasons for why they planned to further implement home working as permanent business model (ONS):
- Improved staff wellbeing: 79.9%
- Reduced overheads: 49.1%
- Increased productivity: 48.3%
- Ability to recruit from a wider pool: 34.7%
- Reduced sickness levels: 27.3%
- Ability to better match jobs with skills: 17.4%
- Not sure: 5.2%
Characteristics of remote workers (ONS)
- Remote work arrangements broken down by employee age:
- Remote work arrangement broken down by employee education level:
- Degree or equivalent:
- Home or hybrid working: 67%
- Commuting only: 33%
- Below degree level:
- Home or hybrid working: 32%
- Commuting only: 68%
- Other qualification:
- Home or hybrid working: 31%
- Commuting only: 69%
- Degree or equivalent:
- Remote work arrangements broken down by employee annual salary band:
- Up to £10,000:
- Home or hybrid working: 14%
- Commuting only: 86%
- £10,000 – £15,000
- Home or hybrid working: 24%
- Commuting only: 76%
- £15,000 – £20,000
- Home or hybrid working: 29%
- Commuting only: 71%
- £20,000 – £30,000
- Home or hybrid working: 36%
- Commuting only: 64%
- £30,000 – £40,000
- Home or hybrid working: 49%
- Commuting only: 51%
- £40,000 – £50,000
- Home or hybrid working: 60%
- Commuting only: 40%
- £50,000 or more:
- Home or hybrid working: 80%
- Commuting only: 20%
- Up to £10,000:
Remote working since the first UK Covid lockdown:
Out-of-hours work habits for remote workers
- Out-of-hours work completed by employees based on working arrangement:
- Replying to work messages or emails
- Office-based: 47%
- Hybrid: 49%
- Fully remote: 48%
- Completing administrative work:
- Office-based: 33%
- Hybrid: 30%
- Fully remote: 37%
- Made work related phone calls:
- Office-based: 19%
- Hybrid: 27%
- Fully remote: 27%
- Taken work device on holiday
- Office-based: 25%
- Hybrid: 22%
- Fully remote: 24%
- Continued to work as normal:
- Office-based: 17%
- Hybrid: 17%
- Fully remote: 23%
- Replying to work messages or emails
- Reasons why remote and hybrid workers complete work-related tasks out of hours:
- I feel a responsibility to reply when a colleague messages me:
- Hybrid: 26%
- Fully remote: 22%
- I have certain responsibilities that need to be carried out by me:
- Hybrid: 16%
- Fully remote: 13%
- An urgent request came through:
- Hybrid: 27%
- Fully remote: 23%
- I have time-sensitive deadlines to meet:
- Hybrid: 19%
- Fully remote: 31%
- I get stressed if I miss things while being off work:
- Hybrid: 21%
- Fully remote: 14%
- I feel a responsibility to reply when a colleague messages me:
Top tasks carried out better in person vs remote (Currys)
Methodology
Consumer attitudes towards small businesses data was collected by Opinium on behalf of Forbes Advisor from a nationally representative survey of 2,000 UK adults between 3 and 7 November 2023.
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