U.K. Sees Surge in Flexible Work Models, 72% of Employers on Board

Study finds employee demands for greater work-life balance and flexibility in the workplace is changing the U.K.’s traditional office culture with hybrid work emerging as the most favored by employees.

The rising demand for flexible work environments is driving changes in workplace culture in the U.K.

The January 2024 Flex Report: U.K. Edition, published by Flex Index, examined flexible work practices among nearly 5,000 companies in the U.K. — employing around 3 million people in the country. It reveals that the majority of U.K. employers, or 72%, offer some form of work location flexibility for their corporate employees.

The report also reveals that the most favored workplace model in the U.K. is the Structured Hybrid approach, adopted by 44% of employers. In this workplace model, employers specify a certain amount of office time required for workers to come into the office, per week.

Fully remote work holds a little more than a quarter of the workplace models analyzed in the report, with 28% of U.K. employers requiring zero days of onsite work. Interestingly, the same percentage of employers (28%) require their employees to be in the office full-time. When it comes to the specific number of days required for hybrid workers to work at the office, it varies. According to the report, 38% require workers to spend at least two to three days in the office per week, while a small minority (3% each) expect either one or four days.

These findings show a clear move towards flexible work arrangements in the U.K., coinciding with broader global trends towards greater flexibility.