Nearly half of GB managers, directors & senior officials now partly “work from home” - official data
We blow wide open what “working” means in 2024 Great Britain, after the Covid lockdowns
Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2024
Over a quarter of all GB workers are now ‘hybrid workers’, according to latest official ONS data
What is ‘hybrid working’? Is it just another way for saying ‘might be in the workplace today, might not’? More than a quarter of working adults in Great Britain (28%) were ‘hybrid working’ in the autumn of this year (2024). This has trebled since Covid-19, according to the latest report from the Office for National Statistics which has been analysed and summarised by the Brexit Facts4EU.Org think tank.
Post-Covid, a disturbing trend of ‘hybrid working’ has emerged in the United Kingdom and we ask what this is and what it means for our competitiveness. This now affects more than one-quarter of all employees in Great Britain, so it is a subject of major relevance to us all. Crucially it affects getting on for half of all managers, directors, and senior officials.
Pictured: The now-ennobled Lord Valance and the now-knighted Professor Sir Chris Whitty, on our TV screens nightly during the Covid era.
The ONS report on working patterns in Great Britain presents either disturbing reading or positive signs for an improved work-life balance, depending on your point of view.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary
1. Rise in total GB employees now ‘working partly from home’ and ‘partly in the workplace’
This is now known as ‘hybrid working’
- Jan 2021 : 9%
- Oct 2024 : 28%
[Source : ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey 11 Nov 2024.]
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2024 - click to enlarge
While the trend in working only from home has fallen since 2021, a hybrid-working model (part in the workplace, and part ‘working from home’), has become the new normal for around a quarter of all GB workers. And it applies more for some employees than others (see below).
During this period hybrid working was more common among those aged over 30 years, parents, those working as managers or professionals, and those in industries that require less face-to-face contact. Those with higher qualifications were also more likely to hybrid work.
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'Improved staff well-being' has continued to be one of the most frequently reported business reasons for using or intending to use increased hybrid- and home-working, according to the ONS Business Insights and Conditions Survey.
Although there was a slight drop in the average amount of time people working at home said they spent working (10 minutes fewer), the ONS can’t say if this is just down to chance in who was surveyed. Their estimates for time spent working aren’t precise enough to be sure.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary
2. Proportion of managers, directors, and senior officials partly ‘working from home’
- Elementary occupations : 3%
- All GB employees : 27%
- Managers, directors & senior officials : 45%
[Source : ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey 11 Nov 2024.]
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2024 - click to enlarge
Managers, directors, and senior officals – 45% are partly ‘working from home’
We have broken down those partly working from home – what is now known as “hybrid working”. Close to half (45%) of those in more senior occupations (shown in the chart above as ‘managers, directors and senior officials’) followed a hybrid working model, compared with 27% of all workers.
This compares with just 3% of people in 'elementary occupations', such as those working on the shop floor, in retail, in cleaning services, or in ‘caring, leisure and other services’.
Over 30s and parents and are more likely to hybrid work
Workers aged over 30 years were more likely to hybrid work compared with those in their 20s and younger. Of people surveyed between April 10 and 30 June 2024, 29% of workers aged 30 years and older followed a hybrid working pattern, compared with 19% for those aged 16 to 29 years old, according to the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey.
Those over 30 years old are more likely to be parents, and to hold managerial positions, both of which may make someone more likely to be a hybrid worker.
Working parents were more likely to hybrid work (35%) compared with working non-parents (24%). This may be because parents find hybrid working helps to facilitate childcare or working around the school day. Male working parents were more likely to hybrid work than female working parents (41% compared with 30% respectively).
“It was Covid lockdowns wot done it, guv”
The entire Covid-19 response from the then government of Boris Johnson in 2020 has resulted in an extraordinary change in working habits in Brexit Britain. This has nothing to do with Brexit and everything to do with lockdowns.
Somehow it seems that in the UK today our working lives – or the lives of people in jobs which allow this luxury – have changed beyond recognition in just a few short years.
Observations
In today’s report from the Brexit Facts4EU.Org think tank, we have summarised the latest data from the ONS on the state of play (or should that be the state of work and play?) in workplaces across the country.
The first observation is that the further up the ladder you have climbed, the more likely the opportunity you have to ‘work from home’ for part of the time. The new ‘management speak’ term for this now appears to be ‘hybrid working’, as if this gives it some legitimacy.
There have always been those whose work ethic is high and who have always done work outside of their contractural hours, without being paid overtime. Some of this work has been done before or after office hours, but they still “went to work” in addition. Questions must be asked, however, at the sheer numbers of those in managerial or senior positions who now “work from home” for part of the time.
The Facts4EU.Org team has noticed this particularly when trying to contact press officers and other senior officials of government departments. Calls cannot be transferred because the individual responsible is ‘working from home’. It is only very rarely that we have ever been called back by those working from home.
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[ Sources: Office for National Statistics ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Mon 18 Nov 2024
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