Home truths
Today, most people that can, will be working from home to avoid the chaos of the rail strikes. Why waste hours frustratingly trying to commute when there is a viable alternative.
This month the Dutch parliament voted to make working from home a legal right, and experts predict other EU countries will follow suit in the coming months. In the UK employees already have a legal right to make a flexible working request, including requests for remote and home working. However, these can be declined on business grounds and restrictions around eligibility can cause confusion and barriers.
Having long-term hybrid and flexible working policies is a key benefit for attracting a more diverse workforce. Gen Z won’t settle for anything less than hybrid according to McKinsey.
It is true that home working and hybrid working creates more flexibility for women to continue with their careers or re-enter the workplace after having children, when the juggle to manage nursery and school hours around the traditional office 9-5 doesn’t work. But it’s not just for mums. Post-pandemic, more fathers requesting hybrid working too.
The summer 2022 Future Forum Pulse survey in the U.S. found a higher percentage of Asian, Black and Hispanic/Latinx employees preferred a hybrid or fully remote working arrangement than White employees. These underrepresented groups who are working from home or hybrid working also reported a higher sense of belonging at work and a stronger perception of being treated fairly compared with a year ago.
A policy that enables flexible working also creates more access and opportunities for many people with a disability, as the barriers of having to navigate making a reasonable adjustment or flexible working request to their employer are removed.
Last but by no means least, numerous pulse surveys have found that home and hybrid working has boosted employee wellbeing, work-life balance and job satisfaction, which in turn boosts productivity. A win win for everyone.
Two years on from the first lockdown, there’s clearly a demand from employees for flexible working to become a permanent fixture of working life. Latest figures from the ONS show that the number of people working exclusively from home is now waning, businesses have recognised the benefits of ‘flex appeal’ and even the Bank of England, is shifting their thinking to accept that working from home is becoming an expected offering by jobseekers and putting in place permanent hybrid working policies.
The challenge is now around removing ‘proximity bias’. Having created an environment that accepts home and hybrid working and fosters more diversity in the workplace, leaders need to develop policies for ensuring those staff who work from home are not overlooked for promotion and development opportunities, and continue to be seen, heard, and listened to.