The number of fully remote jobs advertised in the UK fell for the eighth month in a row in December as employers increasingly call on staff to be in the office.
According to data from networking site LinkedIn, first reported by The Times, in December 11% of new job postings were for remote roles, down from 15.8% at the end of 2021. The number of at-home jobs advertised has been on a downward trajectory since May and is at its lowest level since LinkedIn began collecting data in September 2021. It started collating the data after the last of the UK’s pandemic lockdowns ended.
LinkedIn reports the number of people searching for remote jobs is ahead of supply, attracting 21% of applications in December.
Speaking to The Times, Ngaire Moyes, LinkedIn’s UK country manager, said while "we have passed ‘peak remote' employers would be unwise to stipulate staff return full time.
"We see nearly double the amount of applications for every remote role in the UK, and we know from our research that more than a third of UK workers would be prepared to quit their job if told to return to the office full time,” she said.
Andrew Willcock, head of Greater London and South East office at Savills, said the data indicates a shift in working pattern expectations from employers, and the increasing use of the office space, even if requirements on the whole are likely to shrink by 10% to 20%.
The data is the latest to appear suggesting that workers are returning to offices. Figures from Remit Consulting first revealed by CoStar News showed UK office occupancy hit a pandemic high in January.
Regional REIT, the regional office specialist, reported from its own tenant data on Tuesday (14 February) that virtually all of its tenants have returned to their offices over the last year.
The REIT's regional office portfolio comprises 156 buildings with 1,042 tenants, spread across the country.
As at 30 November 2022, 99% of the Company’s tenants had returned to the office in some form, with only 12 tenants still to return. Two of these were the Scottish government, which has already signed lease extensions. This is a significant increase from 1 March 2022, where the company’s data collection showed only around 30% of its tenants had returned to the office.
It says there are a number of ways in which the company’s offices are being used, with hybrid working being the most popular. The vast majority of tenants are in full attendance three days per week, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and for many this is four or even five days per week. In terms of hybrid working, Regional REIT’s data suggests that the majority of staff are being encouraged to work from the office on the same days to foster collaboration.
Stephen Inglis, CEO of London & Scottish Property Investment Management, the asset manager to Regional REIT, said: “In the UK regions where commutes tend to be simpler and shorter than the London area, the trend remains towards more people being in the office more of the week. We expect this momentum to continue through 2023, until employers and employees strike the right balance for them between WFH and WFO.
“We are of the opinion that by the end of 2023 this will have played out, with the majority of regional employers adopting a more even split of either: four days in the office and one day from home policy; or three days in the office and two from home. From the trends we are seeing, we believe employees working fully from home (that were not doing so pre-pandemic) will be in a small minority.”
The data also comes as a survey of 20,000 employees globally by brokerage giant CBRE finds that flexible working has proved to be an "unexpected gift" for employers.
CBRE said its findings reveal the importance of flexibility in both employee and employer decision-making, with benefits including increased productivity and innovative thinking.
The survey shows flexibility about where and when work takes place was particularly important to workers. Around 40% of workers both globally and in the UK, noted flexibility as the primary factor in assessing job opportunities, with a company’s commitment to work-life balance another crucial factor.
Half of survey respondents (50%), and more than half of remote and hybrid workers (54%), reported an increased level of trust in their employer compared to pre-pandemic, with CBRE suggesting this gives organisations a positive starting point from which to engage with employees.
The research also showed that the experience of working flexibly has been good for employees when it comes to wellbeing, productivity and connectivity.
More than half (52%) of hybrid employees in the UK said their relationship with their colleagues had improved since the pandemic, compared to office first (44%) and fully remote (41%). When asked if they feel connected to the work of both their immediate team and other teams in their organisation, a significant number of hybrid employees agreed (60% and 56% respectively), more than office-first employees (56% and 48%) and remote employees (45% and 41%).
CBRE’s head of human capital, Georgina Fraser, said its research has shown for a while now that flexible working is considered important to a large part of the workforce, but what is new now is the quantifiable evidence that flexible, hybrid working can also benefit the employer.
"If companies can harness the increase in trust and connectivity that is created by hybrid working and use it to fuel creativity and innovation, it could be a win-win in unexpected ways.”
CBRE says the desire for flexibility appears to be permanent. Globally, the proportion of workers who want to work solely from the office falls from 38% at the time of the survey to just 20% when considering the future. The number of respondents wanting to work as "predominantly hybrid" rises from 16 to 26% globally, and from 20% to 30% in the UK.
But there is a definitive long term need for the office, CBRE says. When asked about their ideal future work schedule, 90% of consumers surveyed still want to be in the workplace at least some of the time.
Richard Holberton, senior director, Research, Europe at CBRE added: “In an environment where company leaders are seeking to find workable arrangements that reflect both individual preferences and corporate culture objectives, a hybrid offering has shown it can strengthen bonds rather than weaken them. Hybrid can be an unexpected gift for team leaders if they can harness it effectively.”