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June 11, 2025
Remote and hybrid working remain popular with candidates in 2025, but employer demand has shifted toward office-first and structured hybrid models. The standout strategy is offering meaningful choice—using data, role requirements, and onboarding realities to decide where work is best done.
The pandemic changed working habits for the vast majority of office-based workers. Those able to do their job from home were asked to do so in order to keep operations running throughout the pandemic. But have we seen the pendulum swing back further in the other direction now?
There has certainly been a shift in employers demanding that workers return to the office, either full-time or in a hybrid work-from-home capacity. For example, your workplace might be busier on Tuesday to Thursday, while offices and town centres are decidedly quieter on Mondays and Fridays.
Speak to workers, and some will say they’re happy to be back in the office, as they have struggled to concentrate when working from home. A dedicated home office workspace isn’t something that everyone can afford, so returning to the office could be a matter of comfort.
This is certainly true for couples who are both trying to manage working from home, with one often claiming the bedroom while one is left to struggle at the kitchen table.
Commercial landlords and food providers in city centres have also been keen to see workers return to the office. As much as commercial landlords might want to guarantee their rental income, this can only happen if they are also willing to learn lessons from the pandemic, as outlined in this insightful article.
But not everyone is happy to be returning to the office. In particular, those with childcare responsibilities. And those who moved further out of town during the pandemic to make the most of their newfound flexibility.
These individuals are now facing higher costs to return to work, with many working parents deciding that employment with a company that insists on in-office attendance is simply not worth it. The rising cost of childcare and the loss of independence that comes from returning to the office means it simply isn’t worth it for some employees.
But, what does the data say on these trends? Is remote working here to stay, or was this just a short-term utopian blip that will now be corrected with a return to business as usual? Let’s explore what the research says.
In 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, just 4.7% of workers in the UK did their job from home.
By April 2020, this had risen to 46.6%. By 2022, when many of the covid restrictions were lifted, around 25% of UK workers did their job from home at least some of the time.
Fast-forward to 2024, and more than a quarter of UK adults report they are working from home at least some of the time in a hybrid working arrangement.
When we look at how this is distributed by age group, we see that the majority of 16 to 24 year olds (65%) have to travel to work for their role. Within this age group, only 6% work from home exclusively, while 15% have some kind of hybrid working arrangement. 14% reported being able to work from home but choosing to work from the office.
Compare this with the 35 to 44 age group, where 17% work from home exclusively. 35% have some kind of hybrid work arrangement, and 10% choose to go into the office, despite being able to work from home. 38% of this age group report being unable to do their job from home.
Of the 65+ age group, 27% report being able to work from home exclusively, while 17% have a hybrid working arrangement. 11% say they can work from home but choose to go into the office, and 47% are unable to do their job from home. Read the full report.
The difference between these age groups could be down to seniority of employees, with many senior staff having more flexibility. It could also point to a greater level of interaction and collaboration, or a greater sense of social enjoyment found in office work for younger workers.
| Topic | Key Point |
|---|---|
| Pre- and post-pandemic shift | WFH rose sharply in 2020 and settled into sustained hybrid by 2024–2025. |
| Age differences | Younger workers more often travel to work; mid-career groups report higher exclusive or hybrid WFH. |
| Employee advantages of WFH | Improved work-life balance, fewer distractions, faster task completion, and better wellbeing for many. |
| Employee drawbacks of WFH | Harder collaboration, potential home distractions, and wellbeing risks for some groups. |
| Market mismatch | Fully remote jobs are a minority of listings but attract a large share of applications. |
| Hiring trend | Remote hires declined at larger firms; smaller firms show more variation in remote uptake. |
| Employer takeaway | Offer thoughtful choice and role-based hybrid; invest in onboarding and manager capability. |
During the pandemic, we saw a spike in home-based and hybrid roles advertised. Employees responded well to this newfound sense of freedom and improved work/life balance.
In July 2022, the ONS surveyed homeworkers to get a sense of how they felt about the shift in working trends. They reported the following advantages of working from home:
From an employer’s perspective, all of these seem positive and in-line with business objectives. These benefits aren’t anything to do with being able to do less or get away with not working. Many employees note that they are more productive when they aren’t in an open plan office environment, surrounded by potential distractions.
For the sake of balance, it’s also worth noting what employees don’t like about working from home. According to the same ONS survey, the following were the most common disadvantages of working from home:
We cannot ignore the potential toll on a worker’s mental health when pushed into a fully remote role. And while the office might be a distracting place, at least those distractions are work-based. At home, the distractions could include house work, children or pets.
Despite the numerous positives, employers are now reluctant to offer fully remote positions. The spike in remote working opportunities seems to be nothing more than a pandemic-fuelled blip.
In 2023, LinkedIn reported that just 12% of the job openings listed on their platform were fully remote, yet these roles accounted for 50% of all applications. There is clearly a mismatch between supply and demand.
According to a recent report by LinkedIn on the Global State of Remote and Hybrid Work, remote hires have fallen by 6.2% between 2023 and 2024 in the UK. This is from data from large companies. In medium-sized companies, the fall was less dramatic at just 2%. Small companies went against the grain in the same period by increasing remote hires by 2.3%.
Demand for hybrid and remote roles continues to outpace supply, so this is a simple way for employers to stand out among harsh competition. The evidence supports the idea that homeworking and hybrid working is better for employee wellbeing.
But perhaps it doesn’t support workers in the way we think. It’s not about offering home working or forcing people back into the office – it’s about offering a choice.
There is evidence to suggest that some workers will thrive when given the option to work from home. On the other hand, young people might find that their mental health suffers when they don’t have the opportunity to socialise in the workplace.
Young people entering the workforce now may have missed out on a truly social experience at university due to the pandemic. Remaining isolated at home might not be the best choice for these workers.
Contrast this to working parents who want to maximise their time and don’t want to waste their time with a commute. They already have a busy and thriving life; they simply want more time to be able to enjoy it.
While it’s tempting to look at the statistics and say that one way is better than another, it isn’t always this simple. Hybrid working and the option to work from home occasionally seems to be a more popular approach.
Use flexible, role-based hybrid to differentiate in a tight market. Clear expectations and consistent rhythms help teams balance focus time with collaboration.
Invest in structured onboarding and mentoring—especially for new starters and early-career hires—to make hybrid or office-first models work effectively.
The pandemic gave us a glimpse of a new way of doing things, and we can’t now pretend it doesn’t exist. We’ve seen how different things can be, and it’s all about what employers do with this knowledge.
Workers who face an hour-long commute to a noisy and distracting office are going to feel some resentment if they are forced back into this routine when they now know there is a better way.
But as much as remote and hybrid working might be the preference for some people, those in highly collaborative roles will struggle to do their best work if they don’t have genuine face time with their colleagues.
When it comes to hiring trends, it’s easy to see why employers wouldn’t want to offer hybrid or remote work right off the bat. Training and onboarding is often best done in-person – unless the organisation has clear processes in place to manage this remotely.
While some small companies (particularly those in the tech sector) might handle this beautifully, this isn’t the norm for all companies. Most managers will feel more comfortable getting to know workers and learning their working style before letting them loose working from home.
We may see hybrid and remote work become something that is offered as a perk or benefit after a minimum amount of service, rather than an immediate offer or requirement.
Attract top talent by offering the right balance between flexibility and collaboration. Submit your vacancy to CMD Recruitment and find candidates who thrive in your workplace model.
