Nearly half of UK businesses want an end to working from home

The move comes despite one in ten businesses reporting that staff have quit over a lack of flexible working

Almost half of all businesses across the UK now want staff back in the office on a full-time basis, in a push to pre-pandemic arrangements.

The shift away from working from home has ramped up this year in the financial and retail industries, with the likes of HSBC and Boots pushing some staff to return to office an additional day per week, or even on a full-time basis. Some have linked office attendance to bonus pay or insisting they work at least one Monday or Friday each week to avoid empty offices.

A survey by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) of more than 500 businesses now shows many businesses across the nation are following the same pattern – despite one in ten businesses (9 per cent) reporting that staff have quit over a lack of flexible working.

The analysis suggested the biggest demand for full-time office or on-site working was in manufacturing and customer-facing companies.

“We’re seeing a clear shift towards more firms requiring full, on-site working, but it’s by no means a uniform picture,” said BCC policy director Jane Gratton.

“The trend is being led by manufacturers and consumer-facing businesses, while around two-thirds of business-to-business service firms continue to operate hybrid models.

“Hybrid working has become a fixture of modern working life since the pandemic and is valued by employers and their workforce. But it does not suit everyone and, for some firms, a full on-site model may be the best solution for the business.”

Changing work patterns is not a new phenomenon, but working from home or remotely became a necessity during the 2020 Covid pandemic.

Since then, some workers have preferred not to return to the office full-time, even as senior leaders call for their return and some say productivity and innovation increases when all employees are together.

Only 17 per cent of companies in the BCC survey believed remote or hybrid working increases productivity.

The government’s Employment Rights Bill offers workers the right to request flexible working. Elsewhere, but connected to changing working patterns, several businesses trialling a four-day week earlier this year opted to keep the practice on a full-time basis.