With the upcoming relaxation of restrictions in the UK, there has been much deliberation within workforces on decisions in implementing a mandatory return to the office fulltime, total flexibility in working from home, or a hybrid equilibrium of both.
With many people enjoying the freedom of working remotely, there are also those who miss the sociability and collaborative nature that the office offers. So, after a year of building inter-workforce trust, should the choice be given to the individual?
The BBC asked 50 of the UK’s largest employers on their plans going forward and almost all 50 do not plan on bringing back employee’s into the office full time; 43 of them said there would be a mixture of office and home working, with staff being encouraged to work from home 2-3 days a week.
Aviva, with 16,000 UK workers, said 95% of them would like to spend some time working flexibly and remotely. Adecco, with 34,000 workers have said four-fifths of its staff now work remotely.
Moving onto the tech giants like Facebook who are allowing employees to apply for permanent remote working as some have been really thriving from home. Twitter’s employees can WFH indefinitely and Microsoft have said their employees can WFH for less than half of their hours.
Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai also announced that “eventually, 20% of Google employees will work remotely while another 20% can work from a Google office other than the one they’re assigned (if they prefer to). However, the remaining 60% of Google’s workforce would have to report to their allocated offices a few days every week.”
The Bank of England also recently surveyed their staff, and the majority hope to continue to work from home at least two days a week. The chief operating officer and deputy governor, Joanna Place, announced, “In this spirit, the governors and I have established a set of trial guidelines – and which we are positioning as a pilot – which encourage more flexible working and only ask that our colleagues return to the office at least once per week for ‘team days’.”
Similarly, Convergence Group plans to have their sales lead generation and service teams returning to the office full-time, “It’s the part of the business where interaction with each other is really key,” said Franki Hale, Convergence Group’s director of strategy and change.
Whereas others are keener to get everyone back – “I am super passionate to get everyone back,” said Sean Bisceglia, CEO of Curion. “What we are really missing is that creativity, and that spontaneity and the ingenuity and talking to your teammates face-to-face.”
There has been talks that the UK Government, could make working from home the default by giving employees the right to request it.
Our soon to be released Home Office scheme available via dufoyer.com will help to make your decision a lot easier ?. Get in touch to talk with one of our experts who can guide you to make the best decision for your company and your employees. We can also reveal the decisions some of our clients have already taken, how we supported them and how we can apply this same process to your company!
So, with all that being said, there seems to be a strong stance for a hybrid way of working. What are your thoughts? Tweet us @tsunami_axis to join in with the conversation!
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