How popular really is hybrid working?

Across both news websites and social media, there are plenty of comments about whether hybrid working benefits both employers and employees – or hinders them.  

In the post-pandemic world, a mix of home and in-office working has become the norm for the vast majority of law firms and businesses across the broader economy. However, recent high-profile statements by business leaders and politicians, as well as a number of companies mandating 100% in-office attendance, have led people to ask – is hybrid working really as popular as some say it is, and does it have a future?  

Our latest Douglas Scott salary survey (available here: https://www.douglas-scott.co.uk/hirers/salary-survey) asked the legal community their opinions on hybrid working to find the answer to this question. Nearly half (46%) of those who responded said they currently had a mix of in-office and remote working and had flexibility on the days they could work from home. Another 24% also had a mix of in-office/at-home work, although they were on fixed days that couldn’t change from week to week. The remaining 26% were split half and half between those who worked from home 100% of the time and those who were in the office 100%. There was an even split in terms of whether this was the standard policy of their firms: 24% said it differed from their firm’s standard policy, 24% said it didn’t, with the remaining respondents unsure. It does show, then, that firms are prepared to accommodate those who might not be able to fit into their regular working patterns. One thing that our results did make clear was that hybrid working benefited the vast majority of respondents: 85% believed that it had a beneficial effect on their lifestyle – a key reason why many firms adopted hybrid working in the first place. Only 2% of respondents actually felt that it was in any way detrimental to their lifestyle.  

However, a key concern remains productivity, especially as firms are looking for new ways to measure the success of their employees. For the majority of respondents to our survey, however, this wasn’t a problem: 69% believed that hybrid working helped increase productivity, with 17% believing that it didn’t have either a positive or negative effect. Of course, it’s up to individual firms to decide how they measure productivity or whether they feel that staff aren’t being productive. However, as far as employees are concerned, it seems like productivity isn’t an issue. In light of some perceived negativity around hybrid working, however, we asked our respondents whether firms planned to change their hybrid working policy. There was a major split between those who didn’t know and those who said no: 48% on both sides, with just 4% believing their firm was about to change its policy. Of course, a lot can change over the course of a year, and internal and external pressures may force firms to re-evaluate their policies. However, what is clear is that not many are planning to do so in the immediate term. What was also clear is what might happen if firms decided to change their policies – over two-thirds of respondents said they would leave their current firm if their policies on hybrid working changed. Indeed, across every region and every size of law firm we surveyed, flexible and agile working times and places came at the top, showing just how important it is for respondents to this as an option.  

So, it’s clear from our respondents to our salary survey that hybrid working is incredibly popular. However, whether it still has a future remains to be seen, with increasing calls for staff to return full-time to the office and firms concerned about productivity, culture and running costs. It’s evident that this discussion will continue, and we will keep abreast of it going forward throughout the rest of the year.