A significant decrease in the availability of jobs offering fully remote work in the UK is a potential obstacle to government plans to boost employment, according to research from the Work Foundation at Lancaster University. The study, part of a large mixed-methods research project examining remote and hybrid working among disabled workers, surveyed more than 1,200 people. Around 85 percent of respondents said access to remote or hybrid work was essential or very important when looking for a new job, and nearly half said they would prefer to work fully remotely. (more…)

Employers are being urged to widen access to flexible working during 2026, ahead of planned changes to employment law that will make flexibility the default unless it can be shown to be unreasonable. A new report from the Work Foundation at Lancaster University suggests that workers with long term health conditions and those in low paid roles are significantly less likely to have access to flexible working arrangements, despite evidence that such measures can support job retention and participation. (more…)

A House of Lords committee has called for a more coherent national approach to remote and hybrid work, warning that unclear responsibilities, inconsistent data, gaps in employer guidance and uneven access to flexible work risk undermining the UK’s ability to adapt to long-term changes in working patterns. According to the report, Is Working From Home Working?, published today (13 November) the rapid rise in home-based working since the pandemic has outpaced the Government’s ability to coordinate policy or collect reliable data. Responsibility for remote work is “split across government departments”, the Committee notes, with implications for employment, transport, digital infrastructure and housing policy. (more…)

A new report from Owl Labs suggests that the debate over where people work is being replaced by questions about when they work. The firm’s 2025 State of Hybrid Work report argues that the defining issue in workplace flexibility and hybrid working is now time rather than location. The study, based on a survey of 2,000 US workers, claims that almost half of respondents believe they do not have enough flexibility in their working hours. Thirty seven percent said they would turn down a job that did not provide flexible scheduling, an increase compared to last year. Around a quarter said they would find a four day week more attractive than a traditional arrangement, with many indicating they would be willing to take a pay cut in exchange for greater control over their time. On average, workers said they would give up around eight to nine percent of their salary to secure more flexible hours or a reduced working week. (more…)

Gallup’s latest research on working patterns among remote-capable employees in the United States suggests that hybrid working is proving far more resilient than some headlines about a wholesale return to the office would imply. The data shows that hybrid work remains the dominant arrangement and has not significantly declined, even as political and organisational pressure grows to increase in-person attendance. The survey finds that just over half of employees who can work remotely are now in hybrid arrangements. This represents a slight decline from the previous two quarters, falling from 55 percent to 51 percent. (more…)