Is hybrid/remote work dying?

[Finallybreathe]

Posting for traffic.

I was looking for a new job and I didn’t want to work in an office full time nor did I want to work from home full time… I was surprised to see how many jobs are no longer remote/hybrid but full time in an office. Thankfully my new job is 3 days at home and 2 days in the office. What’s happened?

What’s the working dynamic like where you are? Are you back in the office full time?

The "official" line where I work is 40% in the office, 60% WFH. I think staff whose jobs are 100% office time are sticking to that.

Most jobs in the organisation aren't like that though, and involve seeing clients at various projects or out in the community, so it's much more difficult to know what they're doing. My team aren't going in at all, except for training or team meetings. During Covid, we had to do a lot of work over the phone, and it turned out to be so efficient (less time wasted travelling is just one benefit) that we're doing most of it that way.

Doing work over the phone in an open-plan office isn't really appropriate when it involves discussing very personal financial and health matters, so we still work from home, apart from when F2F appointments are needed. And we're able to do twice as much doing it this way: caseloads are more than double pre-Covid levels.

i work hybrid but I was employed just after lockdowns finished. If I were to look for something else, and I may do within the next year or so, I’d def go for hybrid roles wherever possible esp as I have a health condition where wfh helps a lot!

From home or on customer site. Average about 1 week every couple of months on customer site (can be anywhere in Europe). Nearest office has been closed down but never went anyway even pre-covid as none of my team were there (team is scattered all across Europe).

2 days office/3 at home. We hot desk at work so the only at time I have my desk with my stuff is at home. I hate it in terms of getting work done. I'd rather be at work 3-4 days and not hot desk. But then it costs me so much to go in. Personally I think many more people need to be back in the office.

I'm fully remote, but I was before COVID. My company is really pushing getting people back in the office. It's gone up from 2 days a week to 3 and there is talk of this increasing. I'm in financial services and this is pretty much the norm in my industry, which is a real shame as it did seem like we were going towards something more flexible and forward thinking.

Some stats:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/characteristicsofhomeworkersgreatbritain/september2022tojanuary2023

Since the end of restrictions, the numbers of homeworkers have remained quite stable.

Fwiw, I think we're going to see a move towards more remote working in the public sector as belts tighten even further. That was actually happening in the 2010s as part of cost cutting exercises, but it's suited the government over the last couple of years to gloss over that- presumably their corporate overlords wanting people out spending more again.

But once JRM and co are on the scrapheap, I expect to see a more overt move towards cost cutting by expanding remote working. It's low hanging fruit. In a few years, the narrative will be how can you justify spending all this money on premises when staff can work more at home instead.

lots of companies in the city have reduced their office space or plan too so I can't see hybrid going away.

The cost of getting to work is increasingly going to be an issue for some people if more on-site time is required. And yes, before anyone says it, we paid train fares etc before covid, but we weren’t in a cost of living crisis and rail fare increases have been very high year on year. There’s also no free parking at our offices, which doesn’t help!

One of my jobs i have to go in once a week. The others i only go in for specigic meetings.

My husband has to go in once a week.

“But once JRM and co are on the scrapheap, I expect to see a more overt move towards cost cutting by expanding remote working. It's low hanging fruit. In a few years, the narrative will be how can you justify spending all this money on premises when staff can work more at home instead.”

I wouldn’t be so sure - I work somewhere that is now Labour-led and they are heavily pushing for return to the office to increase footfall. Previous administration (Tory) was very supportive of remote working.

My company is largely hybrid with some permanent remote workers. Have just moved offices to one that is half the size of the previous one.

Yeah, now. But there's pretty obviously going to be more cuts coming, and this is some of the lowest hanging fruit available.

We are mostly hybrid with some FT remote workers. As senior management I dislike the fully remote model on the whole (with some exceptions for roles that really don’t require much interaction). It’s very hard to get the team bought into our mission and strategy - remote working is very transactional. But we’re in a fast moving industry where we’re trying to grow and scale a business, not maintain the status quo.

and it’s a bit condescending to suggest that workplace socialising is in some way symptomatic of not having a life. I’ve made great friends along the way and when I was younger having a cohort of work friends was really fun. I would have loathed working from home pre kids. And I think it’s a third of marriages begin in the workplace so it plays an important role there too :)

I am grateful for WFH now I have primary aged children but I had a blast working full time in the office in central London in my 20s.

I made lifelong friends from spending so much time together in the week and had such a great time going out after work etc.

But now rents are (in my area) so much higher on proportion to how much salaries in my sector have risen that I wouldn’t have been able to afford to commute in and go out and have fun after work etc.

News yesterday -
a new survey found. Britons work remotely for an average of 1.5 days a week, almost half a day more than the international average. Globally, only Canadians spend more time logging in from home.

No less condescending than all the claims that remote working is damaging to social lives. Which is invariably an argument made on threads about remote working.

Same here, I had an absolute blast in my first graduate role, absolutely loved it and I do feel aside from the MN like anxiety ridden anti social people lots are missing out on this by sitting in a bedroom at their parents or in a houseshare. Depressing AF.

Still WFH full time here, unless I have a meeting at the office (maybe once or twice a month).

I was office 4 days, WFH 1 day pre-covid. Didn't like WFH all the time to begin with and do miss interraction with colleagues a bit but the eradication of the 1-1.5hr per day commute and being able to work more hours as a single parent makes up for that.

It's possible to have a blast socialising in your 20s (and beyond) without depending on your colleagues for that. I don't think I'd have been able to let my hair down properly around people I also had to be professional around.

Might be worth thinking about all the people who couldn't have the experience you did in their 20s because in person work limited or removed their opportunities. People who were disabled, neurodiverse, had caring responsibilities, couldn't live in areas close to the best job market. Those people missed out back then. The rise of remote working makes them less likely to miss out on opportunities now.

2 days in the office, these days are mandated so our team has to go in on those specific days. I quite like it actually. 3 days wfh, but you can go into the office if you want/need to.

We have to do one day a week in the office, but if we want to come in more often than that, we can. I sometimes do one day, sometimes two days. Some people come in every day because they prefer it.

I work in insurance and do 3 days at home and 2 in the office.
I love it.

I am ND and registered disabled to MH, it's only on MN where the stereotypes that everyone who is so is the same. I found remote working actually much worse and it left me feeling actively suicidal; that's why perhaps a balanced approach which caters to both is better? Now I'm a bit older I'm not in such a social role, but I don't begrudge others it just because I can no longer cope with it as it were. Also to those who say socialising is beyond work mates, well of course- but where do you meet people as an adult besides? I do a sport and meet people through that, but a lot of my friends are people I've met through work also along with those I've known since being younger.

It might just depend on your industry. The vast majority of software engineering jobs/developer jobs are remote, and it's the same in my industry (UX).