ResearchHave your say: UK call for evidence launched on hybrid working

Expectations around workplaces and working patterns are entirely different now compared to pre-2019 expectations. Having eliminated the often-long office commute, many employees now enjoy the benefits of flexible working. But, has the experience come full circle? Are the pitfalls of working from home too often?

Now, the UK is seeking answers to these questions in preparation for future developments in the workplace across the nation. Organised by the UK’s House of Lords Select Committee on Home-based Working, a new Call For Evidence invites individuals and organisations to share their thoughts on the opportunities and challenges of remote and hybrid working. Specifically, the report aims to identify impacts on productivity, the economy, and society as a whole.

Individuals and organisations have until 10am on 25 April to submit their feedback.

Questions in the Call for Evidence:

The Committee is seeking submissions relating to any or all of the following topics:

1. What are the challenges and opportunities of remote and hybrid working for workers? To what extent do these vary depending on the worker’s characteristics, such as their job role, gender, race, age, disability, income, educational background, carer/parental status and living situation?
2. What is the impact of remote and hybrid working on individual physical and mental health? How does this impact and the strategies used to mitigate the negative aspects of it compare to traditional site-based work?
3. What are the challenges and opportunities of remote and hybrid working for employers, including concerning recruitment and retention, the potential for collaboration and creativity, management, worker attitudes and expectations, and use of office space?
4. To what extent do the challenges and opportunities of remote and hybrid working vary depending on the nature of the employer, for example its size, sector, organisational capabilities, and geographical location?
5. How can employer and worker needs be balanced within the context of remote and hybrid working, to ensure mutually beneficial employment arrangements?
6. What is your view on why some employers have implemented back-to-office mandates, while others continue to support hybrid or remote working?
7. What is the impact of remote and hybrid working on individual, organisational and national productivity and resilience? How can the productivity impact of remote and hybrid working be more accurately measured and defined so that meaningful comparisons can be made between different organisations?
8. What, if anything, is the impact of remote and hybrid working on the UK’s economic growth and international competitiveness?
9. Are there any other wider consequences of remote and hybrid working that you would identify, at the local, regional and national level? In particular, is there an impact on regional disparities within the UK, unemployment, development of skills, habits of socialising, or the environment?
10. To what extent do the individual, organisational, and wider socioeconomic effects of remote and hybrid working vary depending on whether work is carried out in a fully remote or hybrid manner?
11. What data is available on the prevalence and effects of remote and hybrid working? Are there any gaps in the available data?
12. How do the prevalence and effects of remote and hybrid working in the UK compare internationally? Are there lessons that can be drawn from other countries and is there anything unique about the UK?
13. What is the relationship between the experience of remote and hybrid working at an individual and organisational level and broader societal and economic factors?
14. What is the appropriate role for the UK Government in addressing and researching the challenges and opportunities of remote and hybrid working, bearing in mind that they are evolving and impacted by technological change?
15. What, if any, are the key policy and/or legislative changes the UK Government should make in this area? Where remote and hybrid working is appropriate, what can the UK Government do to facilitate good practices in the workplace?
16. To what extent can trends or policies on remote and hybrid working help the Government to address other policy objectives, such as carbon net zero, boosting economic growth, tackling regional disparities or encouraging the economically inactive into employment?

To submit your feedback, you can visit the government website.