Home working is still a work in progress
3 min read
In March 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic hit the UK, millions of people began working from their homes for the first time – transforming what was once a niche working practice into a mainstream one.
Today, working from home at least some of the time represents a “new normal” for many. The latest data from the Office for National Statistics suggests that 13% of workers in Great Britain work from home all the time (“fully remote working”), and a further 26% combine home working with on-site working (“hybrid working”). However, not everyone can work from home; many jobs still have to be done in person. Access to remote and hybrid working is also unequal, with levels higher among professionals, university graduates, and those living in London.
In this context, the cross-party House of Lords Home-based Working Committee, which I chaired, has published a report which represents a comprehensive examination of home working based on a thorough consideration of the available evidence. This report is the culmination of an inquiry which began in March.
Like many, we were particularly interested in the impact of working from home on productivity. However, many of the jobs that can be done from home are knowledge-based, complex and intangible, making productivity difficult to track and measure objectively. The UK’s national productivity has been poor in recent years, but there is not any solid evidence to link this to the increase in working from home, given that there are many other factors at play.
Remote and hybrid working can affect health, wellbeing, and work-life balance in both directions. Individuals working at home often report positive outcomes due to greater flexibility, but some may experience increased stress or isolation. Others may find that the boundaries between work and home become blurred, or that they need to make trade-offs between their personal and professional lives.
If it is managed properly, hybrid working has the potential to be “the best of both worlds” by allowing people to reap the collaborative benefits of attending the office and the flexibility to work from home. However, due to under-investment in management training, the skills needed to successfully manage hybrid working are lacking. The Government should address this by reconsidering current cuts to relevant apprenticeship training, or finding a suitable alternative to encourage training investment.
The increased flexibility of remote and hybrid working can be especially beneficial to people with disabilities and to parents or carers; for some, it may be the difference between working and not working. If the Government wants to encourage more people back into work, then it should look into the potential of remote and hybrid working alongside existing back-to-work initiatives.
In general, working from home is best handled by employers and workers, without extensive Government intervention. However, the Government should provide additional guidance and promote already existing guidance more widely.
Under the Employment Rights Bill currently before Parliament, employers will only be able to reject an employee’s flexible working request (including to work from home) where it is “reasonable” for them to do so under one of the grounds set out in existing legislation. The Government should ensure that this change does not put undue pressure on the employment tribunal system.
Overall, widespread home working remains a relatively new phenomenon and understanding of it is still developing. Given this, the Government should work towards implementation of the practicable and deliverable recommendations in the Committee’s report. These include cross-departmental data gathering so that current trends can be tracked, analysed and put to good use when developing policy in the future.
Baroness Scott of Needham Market chaired the Home-based Working Committee, a Lords Special Inquiry Committee.
