More than a million people have changed jobs because of a lack of flexibility, as half of UK employees feel under pressure to return to office, according to research from the CIPD.
The HR body is urging employers to take a more balanced approach to return-to-office mandates to support collaboration and attract and retain talent.
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The CIPD research, which polled 2,050 HR professionals and 5,017 working adults, has revealed a growing mismatch between employer and employee expectations.
This led to more than a million UK workers – and younger workers in particular – leave their jobs in the past year because of a lack of flexibility.
The report, Flexible and hybrid working practices in 2025, also suggested we are seeing growing tension between employers and employees over hybrid working.
More than half of UK employees (53%) said they felt pressure to spend more time in the workplace and more than one in ten (14%) employers planned to introduce or increase mandated days in the office.
Despite this increasing pressure from bosses, people’s appetite for flexibility remains strong, the CIPD argued.
A total of 3% of employees surveyed say they had left a job in the last year (since January 2024) because of a lack of flexible working. Extrapolated, this represents around 1.1 million workers in the UK, the CIPD estimated.
In response, the CIPD is calling for a more balanced approach to return-to-workplace mandates, that considers both business and employee needs, supporting collaboration, talent attraction and retention, while giving people the flexibility they value.
The report has provided a snapshot of flexible working more than one year since UK workers gained the legal right to request flexible working from their first day at work.
While most organisations (91%) now offer some form of flexible working, the push to bring people back into the office more regularly is gaining pace, with two in three employees (70%) agreeing that most pressure is coming from senior leaders.
Just over half of organisations surveyed (51%) require employees to be on-site a minimum number of days per week – most commonly three – and a further 14% mandate a certain number of office days per month.
The most common reasons cited for more time in the workplace are to improve connections and relationships, improve collaboration, boost engagement, and support onboarding and training.
However, these ambitions must also be considered alongside efforts to attract and retain people, especially given many organisations continue to grapple with hard-to-fill vacancies and skills shortages.
Four in five workers (80%) feel that flexible working has improved their quality of life, and a third (33%) report a positive impact on their career prospects – up from 22% in 2022, the CIPD said.
Claire McCartney, CIPD policy and practice manager, said: “There’s a clear mismatch between what some employers are pushing for and what many employees value. Hybrid working has benefits for employee satisfaction and attracting and retaining talent, often supporting those with health conditions, disabilities or caring responsibilities to remain and thrive in work.
“However, it can also bring challenges for employers, particularly around organisation culture, connection to organisation purpose and the ability of managers to lead their teams effectively.
“But it doesn’t have to be an either/or situation. This may mean designating in-office days for team collaboration, while preserving flexibility for focused work at home. There’s no one size fits all and for many organisations, it’s about finding the right balance that supports people’s performance and wellbeing, while meeting the needs of the business,” McCartney added.
Many organisations are already taking steps to make the office experience more attractive.
More than half (53%) of those offering hybrid working have introduced incentives, such as improved workspaces, team-building activities, flexible hours, free food and drink, and commuter benefits, McCartney highlighted.
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