President's Column November/December 2024

11/11/2024

Category: President's Column

Hybrid working

Being someone who until the UK entered its first lockdown period had spent every working day either in the office or travelling to business meetings, I may not be in the best position to offer an opinion on work-life balance. Indeed, I recall the many times that our children frowned when the phone rang or the laptop was opened while on holiday. But today there is much more emphasis on getting this balance right.

So, is it better to have an inventive, collaborative and connected desk-based workforce, or would you prefer your office staff to be loyal, perform better, and be more productive?

These are the two creative descriptions offered in a polar difference of opinions currently being promoted by our own Government versus global organisations such as Amazon, Goldman Sachs and Tesla who want their staff to return to the office full-time.

As part of the Government’s new Employment Rights Bill, staff could soon be given the right to work remotely, undertake compressed four-day weeks and not be disturbed outside office hours (although this last point is currently under review). This has left many businesses concerned that these rules will be applied across the board, thus taking away the ability for an organisation to apply different practices to different working requirements. It would also make it much more difficult for smaller businesses to determine and control their own employment policy and structure.

Make UK, one of our steelwork industry partners, has stressed the need for any new legislation to continue to allow individual businesses to decline flexible working requests where they are deemed inappropriate, and also to allow those same employers to “put in place the right measures to improve work-life balance for their employees, while preserving their ability to respond urgently and flexibly to business-critical needs”.

When the spacecraft design and manufacturer, SpaceX, brought in a policy requiring workers to return to the office full-time, it is reported that it immediately lost 15% of its senior-level employees. Logically, it would be safe to assume that at least some of those senior-level employees were not straight out of university, so this is not a generational debate, and I can confidently say that many of the discussions I have had with key figures within the constructional steelwork industry would confirm this assumption.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the UK is already the ‘work-from-home’ capital of Europe, with 44% of employees working a hybrid or fully-remote week, but we need to get the balance right. Younger employees need the interaction and mentoring of more experienced work colleagues, so it would seem to me that the answer should be a hybrid work structure that allows senior staff to improve their work/life balance while encouraging younger employees back into workspaces.

Research by the Institute of Directors currently shows that around 90% of UK businesses now offer remote working, while 70% also offer part-time working. So, at a time when most industries, including our own, are keen to attract and retain new workers, this seems a very reasonable position to be in.

My own opinion is that the government shouldn’t legislate too far, as most employers and employees will be able to reach a satisfactory middle ground themselves. The fact that I found it difficult to switch off during my career was my own life choice rather than any coercion by others. Let’s continue to allow people the same freedom of choice.

Gary Simmons, BCSA President

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