Every employee now has the right to request flexible working options as soon as they begin employment. This has been set in stone via new government legislation, which, you might think, would make it something that all employers are aware of and will accommodate.
This is not the case. A recent study suggests that as many as forty percent of office workers are not given a choice as to where they work, whether that’s a remote option or an office-based one.
What Are The Numbers?
Hammonds Fitted Furniture conducted a survey of 1,000 UK office workers, and the results show that fifty-seven percent would choose to work remotely if they had the choice. However, only seven percent of workers are able to work from home full-time when it is the employers who choose what happens and what their location has to be.
As well as this, when the employer has control, sixty percent of workers have to go to the office every day, and thirty-three percent have specific days where they must come to the office and set days when they can work from home. This means that although forty-three percent of workers would like to work from home, they have to go to an office instead.
What About The Other Way Around?
So far we have focused on those workers who want to work from home but are being asked to come into the office. What about those who want to work from an office but are being ‘forced’ to work remotely because there is no office to go to?
Although the numbers are less clear, there are certainly employees who definitely do not want to work from home, perhaps because it is noisy or because they don’t have any office space, or even because they feel isolated when they do so. In this case, if they are working somewhere without a central office, they won’t have any choice, no matter what their preferences might be.
What Can Employers Do?
It’s crucial that employers ensure they stay up to date with employment law so that they know when new legislation is brought in and can make sure they are adhering to it. When it comes to helping your employees work in a way that suits them, it’s certainly worth looking into the various options that are open to you. One thing that you can do to please everyone and stay on the right side of the law is to make use of a serviced office.
It might be that you have no central office and that you ask all your staff members to work remotely. This can save the business money on rent and utilities, and it can also mean you are able to attract talent from around the world, rather than just in your local area.
However, as we’ve seen, this is not always something that employees want. This is why it is a good idea to rent a serviced office from BE Offices. In this way, you don’t have to pay as much rent as you would for a permanent office, and the utilities and even some of the office equipment will be included. Your team will have somewhere to go if they want to, but they can also work remotely if they choose. By giving them this choice, everyone will work in the most productive way for them.
