28% work hybrid driven by higher earners
Sara White, Editor, Business & Accountancy Daily
Hybrid working levels are rising slightly with 28% of UK employees allowed to split their working weeks between office and remote7
Higher earners, workers with graduate or higher qualifications, and staff in professional services, accountancy and law firms are most likely to work remotely. Workers with a degree or equivalent qualification are 10 times more likely to hybrid work than those with no qualifications.
The pandemic was the catalyst for the shift to hybrid working when millions of workers were ordered to work from home. But there is now a push to ensure staff do spend some time in the office to improve collaboration and particularly support younger workers, a key issue for accountancy firms with large cohorts of trainees.
The hybrid working trend continues with more than a quarter (28%) of adults hybrid working between January and March 2025, up from 25% a year ago, and this proportion has gradually risen since March 2022, showed the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). However, 44% of employees travel to a specific workplace, comparable with a year ago, with only lower levels during peak holiday times such as August and school holidays.
But the ONS figures do not break down how many days people are hybrid working to give a granular picture, as many workers travelling to their place of work will not be working in office environments but in customer facing jobs in hospitality and retail, healthcare, teaching and construction.
Hybrid work patterns the domain of workers in so-called white collar jobs.
Managers, directors and senior officials, those in professional occupations, and those with childcare responsibilities were the most likely to hybrid work, a trend unchanged from last year’s report.
The ONS figures showed a shift from full-time, office-based work to the hybrid-working pattern, with a slight downturn in the number of people working from home only.
The work culture has changed dramatically in the last five years, but hybrid working is very much career dependent and even reflects socio economic trends.
‘The shift towards hybrid work has become a legacy of the coronavirus pandemic, but this differs among working adults,’ the ONS said.
A three-day office pattern is typical at accountancy firms, with PwC now requiring people to work from office or client sites for a minimum of three days a week, introduced this spring.
Philippa O’Connor, chief people officer at PwC, said: ‘We have a formal three days a week. We genuinely believe it is best for our clients, better for innovation. We are a training programme at our heart and we’re very clear that the ability to do that training is absolutely critical for them to be together in person for the majority, but not for all of their week.’
This move to attendance is also reflected at top 30 firm Menzies, which also operates a three-day system with staff required in the office or at clients, and no more than two days at home a week.
Simon Massey, managing partner at Menzies said: ‘We see the benefits of being in the office as we really need to have collaboration, particularly for our trainees, so they can work closely with more senior staff and learn on the job. We are a training firm and we take on between 80 to 100 trainees a year on two to three year training arrangements.’
For trainees, Teams calls and online training, just do not cut the mustard, the view of most of the leading accountancy training firms.
This is reflected in the trends for hybrid working with ONS saying that workers aged between 30 to 49 years are the most likely to hybrid work. But people in more deprived areas in England had much lower rates. In addition, part-time workers are less likely to work from home.
