Remote working has been dealt a number of blows over the past year with some of the biggest names in tech such as Amazon, Google and Dell doing sharp U-turns on their flexible work policies.
In the UK, nearly half (40%) of all workers are remote in some capacity, for all or part of the week. Those living in London report the highest levels of hybrid working.
These workers may have worried about being called back into the office for some or all of their working weeks, but in April, they were given a shot in the arm as the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill 2023 came into effect.
3 flexible work jobs hiring now
- Delivery manager, Version 1, London (hybrid)
- Cloud operations administrator, DigitalOcean (remote)
- Senior machine learning engineer, BenchSci (remote)
This new legislation means that all UK workers, even those who are on their first day of a new job, have the right to request flexible working.
Employers aren’t legally required to grant flexible working arrangements, but they are legally required to consider all requests for flexible work and must provide a reason for refusal.
While research of 1,000 UK desk workers by Slack found that 80% of employees say that flexible working boosts their productivity, what do business leaders think?
Bukki Adedapo, the UK country manager at freelance marketplace Fiverr, points to the often generational nature of flexible work. “For Generation Z in particular, flexible working is becoming a non-negotiable,” he says.
Generational divide
“According to a recent survey we conducted, ‘flexible work’ was the most common factor influencing UK 16-26-year-olds’ decisions about how or where they are choosing to work this year,” Adedapo adds.
“Offering the option of working from home is now the bare minimum […] What these workers are really looking for are flexible hours, four-day weeks and the opportunities to work from anywhere in the world.”
Coursera’s Nikolaz Foucaud, EMEA managing director, says that flexible working laws are much needed, “particularly in the context of the current challenges the UK is facing with inactive workers––many of whom may be able to return to economic activity if given the option of a remote, or flexible, work arrangement from the outset.”
Foucaud says for businesses that are regressing to “traditional office-centric 9-5 structures”, that this feels like a misstep.
“In a world of remote work and global talent pipelines, if return-to-office mandates are draconian, UK businesses risk losing access to the best people for the job.
“Flexible work policies should also now be a strong consideration for companies that want to ensure they are attracting and retaining talent such as working mothers, who are statistically more likely to be balancing caregiving responsibilities around their employment. Improving flexible working rights is a crucial component of the drive for workplace equity,” he adds.
Remote remains popular
And for Jack Kennedy, who is Indeed UK’s senior economist, “the changes are a step on the right path for creating a level playing field for access to flexible work.”
Kennedy is uniquely placed to know exactly what is happening in the hiring market. “Despite return-to-office calls, jobs offering remote or hybrid work have remained popular since the pandemic, making up 16% of total UK jobs on Indeed, and 2.7% of total searches, both close to their pandemic peaks,” he reveals.
“Staff aren’t willing to budge on flexibility and the changes to the Flexible Working Bill may cement something of a truce between employers and employees.”
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This article is part of a paid partnership with careers marketplace Jobbio to share the most exciting UK tech jobs with UKTN readers.
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