Employers shun offering remote working to new candidates

Few firms are offering new candidates remote working despite many predicting changes to working practices triggered by the pandemic are here to stay, according to new figures.

Recruitment site Reed said just 5.6 per cent of jobs advertised on their website mentioned hybrid working in the job description.

The proportion mentioning remote working is down sharply from a peak of 9.2 per cent in January of this year driven by restrictions on economic activity to curb the spread of Covid ending as the vaccine rollout has swept across the UK.

Chris Adcock, managing director at Reed Technology, said: “We are now in a transitional period. Before, we were all forced into home working, but now we are slowly moving back to the office.

“At the moment companies are discovering what working arrangements suit their business.”

However, compared to before the Covid crisis, the proportion of jobs advertised on Reed’s jobs board offering remote working has shot up sharply.

In 2019, just one per cent of all vacancies mentioned remote working, rising to two per cent in 2020 at the height of the pandemic.

Large swathes of the economy that typically relied on workers being in the office to conduct work before the pandemic rapidly pivoted to a remote working model after Covid’s arrival in the UK.

“During the pandemic, we were forced into home working and everyone got a taste for it,” Adcock added.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak recently urged younger workers to return to the office or risk being overlooked for promotions.

Business leaders, including the Institute of Directors and the British Chambers of Commerce, reiterate Sunak’s calls.

Boris Johnson scrapped the working from guidance on so-called “Freedom Day” on 19 July. However, workers have been reluctant to return to the office.

Research from Remit Consulting shows the proportion of staff in the office in the UK hit 11.7 per cent in July, a marginal increase from 11.1 per cent before the Work From Home guidance was dropped.

US businesses have come down harder on getting staff to return to the office, particularly Wall Street banks.

UK firms have up until now been more lenient, though this is expected to change in September once the new school year starts and a greater proportion of the population is double jabbed.