A new Parliamentary report examines the “mainstream practice” of working from home as a route to help more disabled people take up job opportunities that were previously denied to them.
The document – “Is working from home working?” – asks the government to “set out whether remote and hybrid working are being considered as part of existing initiatives to support people with disabilities and long-term health conditions back into work”.
Baroness Scott of Needham Market, who chaired the Home-based Working Committee, said: “The increased flexibility of remote and hybrid working can be especially beneficial to people with disabilities and to parents or carers, and may help them to work where they couldn’t previously.
“If the Government wants to encourage more people back into work, then it should look into the potential of remote and hybrid working alongside existing back to work initiatives.”
The report notes that working from home has been transformed into a mainstream practice since the COVID-19 pandemic and has become the “new normal” for many.
It adds that the UK is believed to have one of the highest levels of home working in the world, with the Office for National Statistics estimating 13% of working adults in Great Britain work from home all of the time (fully remote working), and a further 26% work from home some of the time (hybrid working).
Among the committee’s findings are:
- Hybrid working can be the “best of both worlds” compared to fully remote or in-person work, but only if done well;
- Not everyone can work from home and access to it is unequal, with levels higher among professionals, university graduates, and those living in London;
- Many return-to-office mandates amount to formalising hybrid working, rather than a return to full-time office attendance;
- Remote and hybrid working can help employers with recruitment and retention, but can present challenges for collaboration and management;
- Changes to flexible working requests under the Government’s Employment Rights Bill could risk “years of litigation” at employment tribunals, unless the legislation is defined clearly and effectively;
- There is no “one-size-fits all” answer to the question of working from home and productivity.
The Committee’s recommendations include promoting and incentivising employer investment in management training to support effective remote and hybrid working. It also makes recommendations on increasing investment in broadband, addressing the shifts in demand for transport created by hybrid working, and tackling the risks AI may pose to remote jobs in the future.