One in five say their employers’ policies have reduced the number of days they can work from home in the last two years
Key takeaways
- 14% of workers in Britain say they work from home all of the time, 35% some of the time, and 51% never
- 72% of workers say they want to work from home at least some of the time
- 19% say employers have reduced WFH allowances in the last two years
- 69% of Britons have a favourable opinion of allowing people to work from home
Despite the scepticism of bosses and the fury of certain newspapers, the much-predicted demise of working from home has yet to materialise, according to the results of a new YouGov tracker survey – the latest in a series reaching back to 2021.
The results find that half of workers still say they are working from home at least some of the time, including one in seven (14%) who say they work from home the whole time, and 35% who say they do so some of the time.
The remaining 51% say they never work from home. These figures are largely the same as previous times we asked in 2023 and 2024.
Asking what workers’ preferred situation is tells a different story: a greater number would prefer to be able to work from home than are currently doing so. A quarter of British workers (26%) say they would want to be able to work from home the whole time, while 46% say they’d want to be able to do so sometimes. Only 20% say that they wouldn’t want to ever work from home.
Again, these figures are effectively unchanged from previous survey waves.
Combining responses to these two questions shows that 58% of workers are currently in a situation that matches their preference. Those who never work from home are the least likely to feel this way, with 50% saying they wish they could work from home at least some of the time.
By contrast, just 1% of those who work from home at least some of the time wish they never had to do so. Among those who work from home some of the time, 24% would rather be able to do so the full time, while 20% of those working from home all the time would prefer to be able to mix it with working in the office on occasion.
One in five workers say employers have scaled back WFH in the last two years
While these topline figures are relatively static, there has been some movement behind the scenes.
We asked a follow-up question to workers on how (if at all) their employers’ working from home policies have shifted in the past two years.
While the most common answer is that there has been no change in policy (46%), the results show that almost one in five (19%) say their employers have decreased the amount of time people are allowed to work from home – although this includes only 4% who say their employer has scrapped working from home altogether.
This is partially balanced by 9% who say their employers are now allowing people to work from home more frequently than they did two years ago.
What do Britons think of people being allowed to work from home?
The public continue to hold a positive opinion of people being allowed to work from home, with 69% holding a favourable view, including 32% who are “very favourable”.
Only 20% are negative towards allowing workers to do their jobs from home, including just 5% who are “very unfavourable”.
These views are unchanged from our survey last year.
While the majority of people across all main social groups have a favourable opinion of working from home, the extent varies.
While those who work from home some or all of the time have similarly positive opinions of people being allowed to work from home (88-91%), this falls to 56% among those who never work from home, as well as the retired.
Almost three in ten people who never work from home (29%) say they have an unfavourable opinion of people being allowed to do so, as do 34% of retirees.
Looking more closely in relation to job type, working from home is more popular among white collar workers (at 73-76% for those in NRS social grades ABC1), and is somewhat less so among manual workers (primarily those in C2 and D, at 61% and 63% respectively). Approximately a quarter in these manual work categories (24-25%) disapprove of people being allowed to work from home.
Likewise, the older Britons are, the more likely they are to have a negative opinion of working from home, with 35% of the over-65s saying so compared to just 9% of 18-24 year olds.
While the youngest Britons are the most likely to have an overall favourable opinion of WFH (84%), the 25-49 year olds age group are the most likely to have a “very favourable” opinion, likely in part because this is the age group most likely to have young children.
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