How Hybrid Working Can Deliver Better Employee Engagement

Having experienced a seismic shift towards more remote working as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many employees would like hybrid working arrangements to continue into the future so they can benefit from improved work-life balances. The smart employers will be the ones that embrace this sentiment with appropriate employee perks and benefits.

[Related reading: New Research: Hybrid Working Arrangements Retain Younger Staff]

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Nearly Half Of Staff Worry About Their Work-Life Balance

Nearly half (47%) of employees are worried about their work-life balance going forward after returning to the office. That’s one of the main findings of some recent research by software and service business Advanced.

Furthermore, according to the Advanced research — which involved 1,058 employees in decision making roles working in UK organisations — one in three employees would like to see their bosses trial a four-day working week.  

However, while 70% of those polled said they want to return to the office, just 6% indicated they would do this on a full-time basis. Among younger employees (aged 18-24), 50% said they are keen to return to office-based working, but they only want to do so for 50% of the time. 

When asked about their productivity while working remotely, 87% said their performance has not suffered as a result. In fact, four in 10 said it has improved. Moreover, 37% said working from home has had a positive impact on their mental health, while 38% were taking less sick leave.

UK Office Workers Prepared To Leave Their Jobs To Access Hybrid Working

Separate research from the UK’s largest family-run recruiter has revealed how nearly half of UK office workers are prepared to leave their jobs if it meant they could access hybrid working.

According to the research by Reed, 45% would consider changing jobs to be able to work on a hybrid basis. Those willing to leave to take advantage of hybrid working have various reasons for wanting such a working setup, including it better suiting their lifestyle (68%), simply preferring it (48%) and believing they would be more productive (44%).

The encouraging news is that many organisations are seemingly doing their best to accommodate hybrid working. Reed’s survey found that 29% of employees are working on a hybrid basis and 37% are working remotely.

Of those working on a hybrid basis, 60% said their work-life balance had improved since they started working this way, while 31% said they were now more productive.

Ian Nicholas, Global Managing Director at Reed, said: “Businesses not offering hybrid working are set to lose out on talent as office workers are prepared to leave to find a role that offers more flexibility. Recent data from Reed.co.uk found a 79% increase in job vacancies with some form of dynamic working arrangements compared to the start of the pandemic.”

[Related reading: Remote Working Boosts Health And Wellbeing Of Older Employees]

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If you’re currently offering hybrid working arrangements to your employees, do you intend to keep them into the future? The research is clear: employees want a better work-life balance and the pandemic has created a compelling argument for hybrid working to be a good all round solution - for employee and employer - if rolled out correctly.