Quarter of UK businesses to close or downsize offices as UK embraces hybrid working

More than a quarter (26%) of UK businesses will either close, downsize or consolidate their offices in the coming months, as companies move to hybrid working models.

More than half (53%) of businesses plan to offer more flexible or remote working policies, while 30 per cent are expecting employees in the office between one and three days per week, research by YouGov for HR tech firm Applaud found.

Read more: KPMG staff to leave early in the summer as firm embraces hybrid working

Just 14 per cent of employers are not expecting staff to return to the office at all post-pandemic.

With many office workers having worked remotely or in a hybrid environment for over a year, business attitudes towards flexible working are changing.

More than a third (35%) of firms are planning to develop an employee engagement role distinct from traditional HR to support staff engagement and improve employee experience remotely.

Respondents also said they want to spend significant resources rewarding employees for their work during the pandemic.

Read more: EY hands £1,100 pandemic ‘thank you’ bonus to non-partners

Nearly two in five (18%) businesses said they will look to give employees better pay and/or promotions in the coming months while 46 per cent will implement better remote working tools to ensure continued engagement and productivity in a remote working future.

Duncan Casemore, co-founder and CTO of Applaud said: “When it comes to the way we work, organisations are embarking on an era of unprecedented change.

“Driven by employee experience, business leaders are turning away from the traditional five days in the office format, instead moving to provide more productive flexible and remote working scenarios.”

Please see below response comment from Sridhar Iyengar, MD, Zoho Europe, on this news!

Sridhar Iyengar, MD, Zoho Europe, comments: “As expected, many businesses are starting to cut back and downsize on office spaces, and these figures highlight the volume of organisations that are following suit when deciding on business operations post pandemic. The hybrid working format which sees workers operate from a part-home, part-office environment, is clearly becoming the model of choice for a majority of businesses.

“This ‘hybrid’ model will appease cost-concerned employers whilst maintaining benefits such as flexibility and wellbeing improvements, all the while injecting a social element back into workspaces.

“As these businesses take this route, it is crucial that decision makers equip IT teams with better long-term solutions to surging demand for their services. This includes adopting a scalable suite of SaaS and mobile applications, which are designed to enable and streamline head-to-toe hybrid working. The right tools, coupled with the right leadership approach and the right communication, should lead to happy and engaged employees, whether in the office or working remotely.”