A quarter of employers increased number of days staff must attend workplace

Just under a quarter of employers have increased the number of days staff must attend the workplace, according to research by Income Data Research (IDR).

Its survey of 70 employers, covering more than 380,000 staff, found that relatively few respondents have made changes that reduce existing flexibility regarding work location within a hybrid working arrangement or hybrid working policies.

Among respondents, the median proportion of the workforce on a hybrid working arrangement is 50%. The not-for-profit and public sectors have the highest proportions of this, at 81% and 70% respectively, falling to 45% within manufacturing and 31% in private services. Just 2% that are eligible for hybrid working instead opt to work wholly on site.

Three-fifths (63%) of respondents have a policy on minimum office or site attendance for roles that could be undertaken from home, and 6% plan to implement one. Two-thirds with hybrid working policies have not changed these in the last three years, and 76% have no plans to make any changes.

Conversely, 4% plan to reduce the proportion of staff on such working patterns and 3% intend to increase them. Meanwhile, 9% have already taken steps to reduce the proportion of hybrid workers, while 7% have increased it. A quarter (23%) increased the number of days that staff must attend and 5% reduced them.

The median minimum requirement for attendance is 2.2 days on average a week. Attendance requirements are highest in private services, at 2.6 days on average, and lowest in the public sector, at 1.4 days.

Just 14% have fixed days when staff must be on site. The most common days for required attendance are Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which are also the most popular days for hybrid workers to choose to work on site.

More than three-quarters (77%) find staff who are eligible for hybrid working generally attend in-person, and at 16% of organisations, attendance is greater than required. Just 7% find eligible staff do not attend in-person as much as required.

Katherine Heffernan, principal researcher at IDR, said: “Our research in 2023 found that few organisations had a formal policy in place that stipulated how often hybrid workers should attend in-person, so it would appear that employers have been making greater efforts to formalise these arrangements over the last 18 months.”