How much is enough? Hybrid working and Parliament.

On 31 January 2025, the House of Lords Select Committee on Home-Based Working was set up and their call for evidence recently closed (25 April 2025).  As has been seen in the news, the Committee have recently interviewed a number of executives of large corporations to understand their views.

One of the interesting aspects was that one interview highlighted that coming into the office was essential for the business and that those coming in three days a week had the highest levels of engagement.  This presumably included surveying those who also worked exclusively at home.

However, before mandates are put in place to get everyone back into the office full-time, the same interviewee highlighted that those in the office five days a week had a lower level of engagement than those on a hybrid structure.

Obviously, such results need to be taken with caution.

For example, the firm in question had a 2/3 day in the office policy.  Therefore, one explanation for people being in for 5 days is that it was mandated by their superiors.  Reducing the autonomy of skilled workers is almost certainly likely to reduce their engagement.

An alternative explanation might be that those in the office five days a week are working in the busiest departments and therefore may feel over-worked and therefore less engaged.

What this does indicate, and what may make a centrally created piece of legislation difficult to be effective, is that what will work best for a business will depend on a number of factors including size, culture and type of work undertaken.

However, we would suggest that, given the interest of Parliament in this area, this is something that forward looking businesses should consider and, if possible, start applying some rigour to in respect of establishing what will be the right type of approach for them.

If the above matters resonate and you would like to discuss how MM&K could assist you with developing your approaches in these areas – please contact Stuart James (stuart.james@mm-k.com) in the first instance.

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