Few employers have made changes to flexible working policies – report

Few employers have made changes to their flexible working policies despite reports of firms rowing back on hybrid arrangements, according to new research.

A survey of 70 employers covering 380,000 workers by researchers at IDS found that few respondents have made changes that reduce employees’ existing flexibility and there is little evidence that hybrid working has any bearing on employees’ pay.

Hybrid working

Around half of respondents said their staff were on a hybrid working arrangement, rising to 81% in the not-for-profit and 70% in the public sector.

The figure fell to 45% within manufacturing and 31% in private services, both industries with large numbers of frontline jobs that cannot ordinarily be performed remotely.

Only 2% of those eligible for hybrid working opt to work wholly on site, according to the data.

Three out of four respondents said they have no plans to make any changes.

Formal policy

“Our research in 2023 found that few organisations had a formal policy in place that stipulated how often hybrid workers should attend in-person, so it would appear that employers have been making greater efforts to formalise these arrangements over the last 18 months,” said Katherine Heffernan of IDR.

“Across the economy, IDR found that the median minimum requirement for attendance is two days a week.”

Ruth Wilkinson, of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, commented: “Improvements in work-life balance, in the quality of working conditions, and increasing levels of independence and flexibility, facilitate workers to lead healthier and more sustainable lives.

“It can also lead to them experiencing greater job satisfaction and productivity, positive mental health and physical health and lower absenteeism or presenteeism.”