The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented growth in the number of people working flexibly – whether working remotely from home or combining home and the office/workplace (so called ‘hybrid working’). 

A House of Commons briefing published in November provides insight into these changes, their impact on employers and employees, and the further calls for reform in this area. 

Remote and hybrid working during COVID

In March 2020, the Government responded to the first wave of COVID cases by requiring people to work from home where possible.

The briefing demonstrates that this resulted in a marked change in working patterns, with 68% of respondents to a YouGov survey saying they had never done any work from home prior to the pandemic, but an ONS study showing 37% of people were working completely from home by May 2020.

The briefing also shows that, whilst the number of people working from home decreased following the easing of Government restrictions in March 2021, this remains higher than pre-pandemic, with the ONS reporting that in September 2021 only 53% of people travelled to their normal place of work each day.

It appears that home and remote working are likely to remain important post-COVID, with surveys quoted in the briefing showing that the majority of employees in Great Britain want to continue working from home at least part of the time.  This appetite for remote working may however not be reflected quite as strongly with employers, with only 24% saying they intend to use increased homeworking as a permanent model in future. 

Pros and cons of flexible working

The briefing draws on surveys and academic research to outline some interesting insights into the benefits and costs of remote working for both workers and employers.

Key benefits identified by workers include improvements to work-life balance, greater autonomy and faster completion of work.  Disadvantages included finding collaboration more difficult and fewer job opportunities.  Concerns were also raised over work ‘extensification’ – the stretching of working hours and the erosion of work / home boundaries. These drawbacks affected some workers more than others, with younger workers in particular reporting fewer benefits from homeworking.

Benefits reported by employers included better staff wellbeing, reduced costs and increased productivity. Conversely some employers also describe challenges including lower mental wellbeing and line-management difficulties – leading them to conclude that hybrid working may be more beneficial than exclusive working from home.

The briefing concludes that the capacity to balance these benefits and costs depends on the extent to which employers accommodate employee interests and their differing perspectives, with the potential to achieve benefits for all parties if consensus can be reached.  Several of the academic studies discussed include recommendations focusing on how this can be achieved.

Calls for reform

The final section of the briefing outlines some of the recent calls for greater legal and regulatory reform around flexible working.  These include:

• Flexible working as a day-one right – currently the right to request flexible working only applies after 26 weeks of work but a Government consultation published in September 2021 proposes making this apply from the start of an employment.
• A default ‘right to have’ flexible working – currently employees have a right to request flexible working, but this can be rejected by their employer for specified business reasons.  Stakeholders including the Labour Party and the TUC have argued this should be strengthened to make flexible working a right, not a request.
• A right to disconnect from work – a House of Lords Select Committee has said the Government should consider a right to disengage from work-related communications such as emails during non-work hours.  A similar right has recently been introduced in some European countries, such as France and Portugal.