Flexible working is the new hybrid working as a third of European workers would decline a job if flexible hours were not offered. That is the key claim of a new report from Owl Labs, a collaborative technology company. The annual State of Hybrid Work study polled 10,000 full-time employees across UK, Germany, France, Netherlands and Scandinavia – which suggests that flexibility is key to retaining top talent in 2022 and beyond. Over a third (37 percent) of European employees are prepared to decline a job if flexible hours are not offered and just over two thirds (69 percent) would accept a pay cut to have flexible hours. (more…)

Over two-thirds of UK office workers would consider returning to the office full-time if employers covered commute costs, an Emburse/YouGov poll suggests. The survey of 1,000 British employees, of which 724 worked in an office, were asked questions around their new working preferences in order to understand what the ‘future of work’ looks like. Around 68 percent said that they would be likely to consider going into the office full time if transport costs to the office were fully covered. (more…)

The number of employers who believe that an increase in homeworking and flexible working has increased their organisation’s productivity or efficiency has jumped significantly over the last year, according to new research from the CIPD. When asked in December 2020, a third (33 percent) of employers said homeworking had increased their organisation’s productivity or efficiency. However, when asked about increased home/hybrid working in October/November 2021, over two-fifths (41 percent) said these new ways of working had increased this. (more…)

A permanent post-pandemic switch to hybrid working may do little to reduce carbon emissions as the majority of remote workers travel further each week than their office-based counterparts, new research from the University of Sussex Business School reveals. The newly published study finds that, prior to the pandemic, most remote workers in England travelled further each week than office-based workers – despite taking fewer trips. This was partly because remote workers tended to live further from their workplace than non-teleworkers, so had longer, if less frequent, commutes. In addition, remote workers engaged in more travel on the days when they worked from home – for example, by making extra trips to shops and cafes. (more…)