Less than half of UK workers would comply with a full-time return to office mandate, according to researchers at King’s College London, who also found a slight increase in average permitted work-from-home days.
Academics at the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at KCL found no evidence of a mass move back to offices on the part of employees, despite a number of high-profile CEOs and leaders heralding a “great return”.
They looked at 50,000 responses to the Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes UK alongside observations from the Office for National Statistics’ Labour Force Survey.
Return to office mandates
Alan Sugar insists employees ‘get their bums back to the office’
The report – Return-to-office mandates: what is at stake for workers, companies, and gender equality? – found that 42% of workers said they would comply with a five-day return-to-office (RTO) requirement, down from 54% in 2022.
Between early 2022 and the second quarter of 2024, the proportion of workers saying they would look for a new job with home working opportunities if their employer imposed an RTO mandate increased from 40% to 50%.
The share of workers who said they would quit straight away if such a mandate were imposed doubled, from 5% to 10%.
Women were the most likely to resist returning to the office, with 64% saying they would quit straight away or seek alternative employment, compared to 51% of men.
Parents were also increasingly resistant to full-time office requirements. More than half (53%) of fathers of school-age children said they would quit or look for a new job if this were required, compared to 38% in early 2022.
Only a third of mothers with young children said they would comply with a full-time office mandate.
Black and minority ethnic workers, however, showed higher rates of compliance, perhaps reflecting higher levels of job insecurity.
The Institute also analysed hybrid working data to see which habits had become established in the labour market.
Despite several employers claiming a widespread return to the office, the rate of workers saying their home was their main place of work between early 2022 and late 2024 remained fairly stable between 26% and 30%.
In fact, the researchers noticed a slight increase in average permitted work from home days: from less than one day a week in 2022 to around 1.3 days in 2024. However, employers were less likely to allow full working from home as they did during the pandemic.
‘Two-tier workforce’
The researchers warned that rigid return-to-office policies could have negative implications for diversity and inclusion, potentially creating a two-tier workforce.
For example, women and parents with caregiving responsibilities could be forced out of roles where this is a requirement. When more mothers and parents work from home, they could face even greater stigma and career penalties.
Heejung Chung, professor of work and employment and director of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, said: “An increasing amount of research shows that well-designed hybrid working models offer significant benefits for both employers and employees.
“Alongside this, there has been a marked shift in attitudes, with workers now seeing flexibility as the norm. Managers need to understand and adapt to this new reality.”
She advised that organisations should instead look to “formalise” hybrid models, investing in remote collaboration tools and arranging in-office days to maximise engagement.
“Where possible, workers should feel emboldened to hold their ground in the face of return-to-office mandates, as the weight of the evidence demonstrating remote working does not harm productivity is growing,” she added.
“In fact, many studies are finding flexible workers tend to work longer and harder compared to those who do not work flexibly – and importantly, those who are able to work remotely tend to be more loyal and committed to their jobs.”
Despite growing research suggesting candidates reject strict return-to-office mandates, employers continue to impose them.
Earlier this month, asset manager BlackRock told senior staff to return to the office five days a week, while business leaders such as Alan Sugar and Stuart Rose have called for a return to in-person working.
Careful management
Charlotte Sloan, legal director in the employment team at law firm Birketts, said changes to arrangements should be handled with care.
“Changing working from home and hybrid working arrangements to require increased office attendance, particularly where more flexible hybrid working has been the norm in the organisation for some time, needs careful management and communication,” she advised.
“From a legal perspective, simply imposing new expectations on staff could run the risk of breach of contract, unfair dismissal and other potential claims.
“While introducing bonus and career progression criteria linked to in-office attendance expectations is becoming more common, the carrot rather than the stick approach usually results in better staff engagement, avoiding the risk of staff voting with their feet.
“Encouraging in-office attendance with inviting office environments, opportunities to collaborate with other colleagues and promoting the subtle benefits that can result from their presence is often a better way to approach creating a new norm.”
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