Fathers who work from home fear ‘return to office’ rules could force them to quit, study claims

More than one in six fathers who currently work from home say they would quit their job if required to return to the office full-time, according to new research from King’s College London, which suggests employers risk losing experienced staff if they tighten office attendance policies. The report, When Fathers Work from Home, from the King’s Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, argues that remote working has become an important part of family life for many fathers, but warns that workplace cultures continue to discourage men from making full use of flexible working arrangements.

Researchers analysed data from the Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes UK, Understanding Society and the Labour Force Survey. The return-to-office analysis was based on responses from 8,123 full-time working fathers surveyed in June 2025.

According to the report, around 17 percent of full-time fathers who currently work from home said they would leave their employer if forced back into the office on a full-time basis. The researchers say this marks a significant increase from around 3 percent recorded in early 2021.

The study also found that fathers would like to work from home almost twice as often as their employers currently permit. On average, respondents said they would prefer to work remotely for 2.1 days each week, compared with the 1.1 days they are typically allowed.

Around 41 percent of fathers said they have formal permission to work from home at least some of the time, while 39 percent said they actually do so.

The report suggests that flexible working continues to carry career risks. It cites evidence that employees who work from home receive less favourable promotion ratings from managers, with the perceived penalty particularly pronounced for fathers, especially those working remotely for three or four days each week.

The researchers argue that working from home should not be viewed solely as a family-friendly benefit but as a way of supporting employee engagement, productivity and retention. They suggest it can also help families manage childcare, school routines and household responsibilities more effectively.

Professor Heejung Chung, Director of the King’s Global Institute for Women’s Leadership and co-author of the report, said that flexible working should no longer be regarded primarily as an issue affecting mothers.

She said fathers who experienced remote working during and after the pandemic had become more involved in family life while maintaining their careers, and argued that this was influencing both family relationships and wider perceptions of masculinity.

Co-author Shiyu Yuan, a Research Assistant at the institute, said many employers still underestimated the importance of home working to fathers. She said it had become an essential part of how many families balance work and caring responsibilities, and warned that removing it could increase stress while reducing employee engagement and loyalty.

However, the report argues that simply offering flexible working policies is not enough. It says fathers may still avoid using them if they believe working from home will damage their career prospects or lead colleagues and managers to question their commitment.

The researchers conclude that unless organisations address the stigma surrounding flexible working, the potential benefits for employees, families and employers are unlikely to be fully realised.