Millions of workers are expected to spend more days at home than they do in the office as the pandemic leads to a “revolution” in working patterns.
The so-called “3:2” model, three days in the office and two at home during the working week, is expected to become the norm for many workers, while others adopt the “2:3”.
The shake-up to the long-established five days a week in the office could not have been imagined 18 months ago but businesses said the pandemic, which forced millions to try home-working for the first time, had caused a permanent change in workers’ expectations.
New research reveals that only a fifth of bosses (19 per cent) say their company will require all staff to come in five days a week after the pandemic, while another fifth (19 per cent) said they plan to let staff choose whether to come in at all, according to a YouGov survey of 1,061 senior decision-makers. Two thirds (69 per cent) will now allow workers to do at least some of their work remotely.
Matt Smith, head of data journalism at YouGov, said that even though the government was no longer advising people to work from home if possible, “hybrid working will become the norm for many”.
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John Lewis has introduced the option of flexible working for all head office staff, unless they cannot do their job from home, saying the pandemic had made everyone rethink “the norm of five days in an office”.
Nikki Humphrey, people director for the John Lewis Partnership, said: “Being forced to work from home made us all realise very quickly that we could do what we had previously thought was impossible. Now that we can go back to our offices, the seismic change has made us question why we would expect people to do long commutes up to five days per week when they could use that time to improve their lives by spending more time with their families, pursuing interests or other personal commitments.”
NatWest has said it expects almost nine in ten staff to work from home, with 32 per cent in a “remote-first” role and 55 per cent “hybrid”, leaving only 13 per cent in the “office-first” category.
The outsourcer Capita said 35,000 of its 55,000 staff can work from home most of the time, while Asda said staff could work from any location suited to their job. The Very Group, which owns online retailers Very and Littlewoods, said staff could do a combination of office and home-working. Sarah Willett, chief people officer at the group, said: “We’re not setting quotas for time at home or in the office.”
The Institute of Directors said two-thirds of business leaders will allow at least one day a week of remote working. Dr Roger Barker, the institute’s director of policy, said the pandemic had driven a “revolution” greater than “radical reform or regulation ever could have”.
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Some companies appear to have used the “revolution” in home-working to sell off expensive office space. The oil company BP, which sold its London headquarters last year, said staff would work from the office three days a week.
The insurance giant Aviva said its offices would be transformed into “collaborative spaces”, and would be “less about rows of desks”. Danny Harmer, chief people officer at Aviva, said: “Offices aren’t necessarily the best place for people to check emails — they are much more about creativity, innovation and teamwork.”
The accountancy firm PwC said it expects workers to be in the office or with clients between two and three days a week from September, adding that flexible working would be the “norm rather than the exception”.
Kevin Ellis, the chairman and senior partner at PwC, said office life was particularly important for those starting out in their careers. “We expect the balance will be two to three days a week in the office, giving people sufficient time to learn, network and socialise,” he said.
Philip Landau, employment lawyer at Landau Law, said: “I think for most office-based jobs, 3:2 will become the norm while both staff and employers are happy to embrace this. One of the governing factors will be whether productivity can be maintained or even increased.”
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Landau said that, if employers continue to allow remote working when the pandemic is no longer a significant threat, workers may be able to claim an implied right to work from home.
Workers have a right to request flexible hours and employers must handle the request in a reasonable manner and respond within three months.
There is no legal right to work from home or have flexible hours and employers can refuse it for business reasons. If those reasons are inadequate, and the worker believes they have a good reason to work from home, they may be able to take their employer to a tribunal.
However, the pandemic has not been the revolution in flexible working that many think, said the Labour MP Tulip Siddiq: “While there has been a huge rise in home working, this has disproportionately benefited the better-off and all other forms of flexible working including flexi-time, part-time hours and job sharing have decreased.”
She said employers turn down a third of requests for flexible working for “business reasons”, adding: “The legal right to request flexible working that was introduced in 2014 has in practice become a right for businesses to refuse workers these opportunities.”
