The wave of companies calling their employees back to the office has grown throughout the year, and employers are getting ruthless now that summer is over. Gone are the days of employers trying to avoid upsetting employees who push back on working from home, with Google announcing that attendance will be factored in performance reviews and Amazon revealing that they will penalise employees who refuse to come back to the office. RTO rules are getting firmer.
The plot twist is that the executives who are initiating the return-to-office mandates are probably the group getting the most flexibility at work, according to our latest data. Leading by example? Probably not.
Our data team looked into advertised job vacancies across the UK between July 2022 and July 2023, revealing the changing proportions of ads specifying a workplace location as either remote, hybrid, or in-office. No assumptions were made for the majority of ads which didn’t specify workplace location.
In this article, we’ll reveal the salary group most likely to work remotely and the sectors most likely to be asked back to the office.
The six-figure advantage
In July 2023, senior to executive-level roles paying £60,000+ are most likely to find hybrid job opportunities, with around a quarter (26.1%) of their advertised job ads labelling as hybrid.
Meanwhile, entry-level to junior workers are most likely to find onsite roles this year, with one in ten job ads specifying they are onsite. Less than 6% of entry to junior job ads specified that they are remote. In fact, the office was also the most prominent workplace for these workers earning fewer than £40,000 a year ago.
By comparison, senior to executive-level roles have been enjoying much more flexibility. In July 2022, the majority of their advertised ads were labelled as remote. Despite a drop in remote opportunities this year, around one-fifth of job ads offering £100,000 and £180,000 are still remote.
Similarly, the top 1% earners in the UK are experiencing a 5.8p.p. slide in remote opportunities this year, from 17.1% in July 2022 to 11.3% in July 2023. They are not going back to the office full-time either. They have the privilege to enjoy a softer approach, with hybrid job ads accounting for 15% of positions.
Are workers actually being called back into the office?
It is for the workers in the US. But in the UK, the era of remote working is not coming to a close. Workers in the UK have been resistant to returning to the office, with “remote” postings still accounting for 14.8% of advertised vacancies in July ‘23, up +3.4pp from 11.4% a year ago.
While some employers are keen to have employees back in the office starting this year, they understand employees nowadays need some sort of flexibility and therefore turn to a mix of onsite and remote work as their solution, with the proportion of job postings specifying “hybrid” increasing to 11.1% in July ‘23 from 9.8% in July ‘22.
Top sectors at risk to return to office
Despite being the sector with the second-largest proportion of ‘remote’ job ads, the IT sector is leading the shift. Employees in the IT sector are most likely to be asked to return to the office among all industries, with the proportion of ‘remote’ job ads having the biggest year-on-year drop (-10.8p.p) among all sectors and postings advertised as ‘office’ or ‘hybrid’ roles’ going up.
Next in line, we have the Creative & Design sector, where brainstorming sessions can happen more organically face-to-face. ‘Remote’ postings in the sector took a slight tumble of -7.3p.p, while ‘hybrid’ and ‘office-based’ roles climbed +6.5p.p and +1.5p.p respectively. Employers also increasingly want fresh graduates coming back to office, as graduate roles usually have less autonomy in the workplace and require more guidance from their supervisors and seniors.
Not all employers are hitting the reverse button on flexible work. With the rise of online tutoring and at-home learning, employers in the teaching sector are keen on keeping remote work, with the proportion of ‘remote’ job ads increasing +18.5pp year over year to 20.8% in July 2023. Elsewhere, the accounting and finance sector seems to be aware that not many workers would be receptive to the return-to-office mandate, and hence the data reflects that even though employers are increasingly wanting employees back in the office, they are opting for a softer approach, with the ‘hybrid’ job ads rising +10.5pp from 21.6% in July 2022 to 32.5% in July 2023.
4 tips for telling your manager you want to continue working from home
1. Ask in-person or schedule a video chat
When your managers ask you to return to the office and you want to decline it, it’s wise to talk to them in person or at least schedule a video chat. It leads to fewer misunderstandings as they can hear your tone and see your facial expressions in addition to your words. It might be more confrontational and uncomfortable but requesting it in-person is more respectful.
2. Figure out your manager’s main concern
Learn the main reason why your manager wants you to return to the office. You can start by re-reading their email or message again or reflecting on the exact words they use during their announcements. It’s important to understand your manager’s motive so you can come up with a more convincing reason why you want to work from home and how this can ease your manager’s concerns as well. Show your managers how they and the company can benefit from you working from home. The best way to start is to prepare a list of examples showing the impact you’ve made during remote work and proofs showing that communication and collaboration can be still achieved.
3. Provide professional reasons
Emphasise how working from home can help you perform better at your job and help the company grow. Examples of professional reasons are “I spend 3+ hours every day commuting, and the long daily commute is draining my energy. I am more productive and focused if I am working from home.” and “My productivity and focus have improved significantly due to the lack of interruptions in the working environment. During the office days, my workflow is often disrupted by phone calls and other team’s meetings. As my task requires a lot of brainstorming, strategy planning and content writing, I need a quiet environment in order to perform my best. I’ve built a quiet and ergonomic home office setup which allows me to work effectively.”
4. Send a formal request after your discussion
If your managers verbally accept your work from home request, send them a formal email request so they can share it with HR and management if they need to. Include your plea, how it could potentially benefit the company, your track record of working from home efficiently and don’t forget thank your manager for approving your request.
What your boss is thinking
The most common reasons why your boss is so eager to have you back in the office are improving collaboration, strengthening company culture and reinforcing control.
Effective collaboration can surely happen when everyone is working from home, but it’s harder for this to happen organically. Employees usually need to block a timeslot in colleagues’ calendars and attend the meeting when it’s time. Even for informal virtual catch-up or team lunches, they need to select their invitees and schedule a time in advance. Quick questions are generally done over messaging tools, but with our Skype and Slack messages buzzing all day and everyday, this can feel invasive and it can be slower to get an answer.
By comparison, a physical workplace allows conversations to happen more naturally. It encourages people to ask quick questions and share their challenges with others, since in the other case, putting something down into written words can sometimes make things more formal than it needs to be.
Apart from that, working in an office is full of those famous ‘water-cooler moments’ (quoting Dwight Schrute from the Office, “Studies have shown that more information gets passed through water-cooler gossip than through official memos.”). You never know who you might meet over a cup of tea or the lunch table, probably someone you may never schedule a meeting with because your job duties are very different. Very often, these conversations can bring you a new perspective – or at least a better understanding of your colleagues’ roles.
Having in-person conversations and meetings can also keep employees engaged and connected. It can be especially challenging for new joiners to experience what a company is like when working remotely. Being physically in the same place, they can actually see how their colleagues are working towards the same goal, not listening to what their colleagues think they’re doing.
One final note, when you’re working remotely, your boss is actually giving you a lot of trust. They may gauge your performance based on your online status, response rate and meeting attendance rate. But trust is intangible and can be fragile. They might know as a leader they need to trust their employees unconditionally but it can also be challenging to trust them when they can’t see everyone and the relationship is founded on a contract. Being in a physical office can help managers and your boss have a better physical grasp and control on what you’re doing throughout the day.
Read more: 10 remote and beautiful jobs for those who want to get lost