Flexible working most likely to be offered in tech, charity and creative sectors

A new study claims that IT & Telecoms, Charity and Media, Digital & Creative are the topmost progressive sectors when it comes to offering jobs with a flexible working element. Conducted by e-learning platform Preply, the study analyses January 2022 job listings, ranking each job sector by the percentage of roles that offer the option for remote working. Other relevant factors the analysis also highlights are the percentage of remote jobs that are part time, average salary and the UK cities seeing the highest increase in demand for those specifically looking for remote work.

With remote job roles making up for almost a quarter of total jobs listed (23 percent), ranking top is ‘IT & Telecoms’. The predominantly virtual sector also ranks in second place for having the most number of jobs with flexible working on offer.

The second most progressive sector is the ‘Media, Digital & Creative’ sector, for which the study found one fifth of all job roles listed are remote (18 percent). If you’re also keen on securing a remote job that doesn’t compromise on salary, the average salary for ‘Media, Digital & Creative’ roles (£34,913.33) is the 7th highest among all other sectors. Close behind in third, with 16 percent of roles listed being remote roles is the ‘Charity’ sector.

The Welsh city of Swansea has seen the highest increase in searches for remote jobs since 2018, with searches up by 1,575 percent.

The second highest increase in demand is seen in the city of Leicester, with a 1,239 percent hike in ‘remote jobs’ searches. Birmingham has seen the UK’s third highest increase (up 971 percent), followed by Northampton (up 783 percent) and Leeds (up 766 percent) respectively.

In Scotland, those most interested in finding remote roles are the Glaswegians, with searches for remote work Glasgow up by 376 percent over the last 3 years. Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland, the capital city of Belfast, takes top place where applicants are keen on finding remote work (+310 percent).

Understandably, some jobs just can’t be done remotely and the sectors found ranking bottom will find themselves there because they are predominantly ‘manual’ or ‘face-to-face’. This is definitely the case for the lowest ranking sectors Hospitality, Manufacturing and Motoring – in each of which fewer than 1 percent of jobs listed are remote roles.

There is a silver lining for those who are keen on working in ‘Hospitality’, as it’s revealed to offer the highest percentage of part-time remote roles – over half of remote roles (57 percent) listed being part-time.