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Hybrid working has become the “new normal” for more than a quarter of working adults in Great Britain, official figures show, but it remains out of reach for those in lower-skilled and lower-paid jobs.
The proportion of people carrying out hybrid work – where they split their time between the office and another location, such as home – has risen gradually since March 2022, becoming the shift pattern for 28% of workers by the first three months of this year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
In a sign of the revolution in the world of work sparked by the pandemic, the proportion of people who only work from the office has also declined over the same period, the survey of about 5,500 workers found.
This “indicates a shift from full-time, office-based work to the hybrid-working pattern” according to the ONS, which found that workers aged between 30 and 49 were the most likely to hybrid work.
It also found that such shift patterns were 10 times more likely to be found among people with a degree or an equivalent level of education than for those with no qualifications.
Hybrid working was also more common in higher income bands. It was available to 45% of workers with an income of £50,000 or more, compared with 8% of those who earned less than £20,000.
Directors, managers and senior officials, as well as those in professional occupations were the most likely to hybrid work, along with those with childcare responsibilities.
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Workers in industries such as retail, construction or hospitality were the least like to be able to work remotely at least some of the time.
Those living in the least deprived areas of England were more likely to hybrid work than those in the most deprived areas, the ONS found. Workers living in deprived areas tend to have lower qualifications than those in less deprived areas, which limits their access to hybrid-working roles.
Disabled people were also found to be less likely to hybrid work than non-disabled staff, partly because they were more likely to be in lower income bands.
Hybrid and remote working “was heralded as bringing in a new dawn of flexible and inclusive work”, but remained out of reach for many, said Rebecca Florisson, the principal analyst of the Work Foundation at Lancaster University, a thinktank for improving working lives in the UK.
“To meet its aim of raising the labour market participation rate to 80%, the government should work with employers to provide access to flexible and inclusive working for those who are currently missing out,” she said.
