Fewer than half of UK workers would comply with a full-time return-to-office (RTO) mandate, with a growing number prepared to resign or seek alternative employment – suggesting that employer mandates may be out of step with employee expectations.
That’s according to research conducted by the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London and King’s Business School, analysing over one million observations from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and 50,000 responses from the Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes UK (SWAA). The data spans from early 2022 to the end of 2024.
Despite media reports of a widespread return to physical offices, the study found no evidence of a major shift back to pre-pandemic working patterns. Instead, homeworking rates have remained broadly stable since 2022, indicating that hybrid models have become embedded in workplace norms.
Resistance to rigid office requirements has grown steadily. In early 2022, 54 percent of workers said they would comply with a five-day in-office requirement. By mid-2024, this figure had dropped to 42 percent. Over the same period, the proportion of employees who would consider leaving their job to retain remote work options increased from 40 percent to 50 percent.
 |
Get our essential weekday HR news and updates.
|
Flexible work now a deciding factor for retention
The proportion of workers saying they would quit immediately if forced to return to the office five days a week has doubled from 5 percent to 10 percent between 2022 and 2024. In total, 58 percent of workers now say they would either resign (9%) or look for a new role (49%) in response to a full-time office mandate.
The findings show clear demographic patterns. Women are more likely to resist full-time returns, with 64 percent saying they would leave their job or begin job-hunting, compared to 51 percent of men. Parents also show increasing reluctance to accept rigid office attendance requirements. Among fathers with school-age children, 38 percent were opposed to full-time mandates in early 2022. By the end of 2024, this had risen to 53 percent. Only 33 percent of mothers with young children say they would comply with a five-day office policy.
However, Black and minority ethnic workers show higher reported compliance rates with full-time mandates, which researchers suggest may reflect heightened concerns over job security and workplace discrimination.
Hybrid arrangements now central to workforce strategy
Hybrid working appears to have become the norm rather than the exception. According to LFS data, between 26 and 27 percent of women reported working mainly from home between 2022 and 2024. For men, the rate has been stable at 27 to 30 percent, with only a slight decline in recent quarters.
The average number of employer-permitted homeworking days per week has risen from under one day in 2022 to about 1.3 days in 2024. At the same time, there has been a small rise in policies limiting homeworking to one or two days a week. The SWAA data shows that one in four workers now work remotely three or more days per week, while two in five do so at least once a week.
Researchers caution that despite the growing normalisation of flexible work, access to remote options is not always evenly distributed. Those working remotely may face stigma or career limitations, particularly when remote work is more common among parents or women.
Risks for employers ignoring workforce expectations
The report concludes that employers enforcing rigid return-to-office mandates risk undermining workforce diversity and increasing recruitment and retention challenges. Workers with caregiving responsibilities, particularly women, may be disproportionately impacted, leading to a two-tier system of flexibility access and associated career disadvantages.
The study recommends that organisations adopt hybrid work models as a long-term strategy and invest in the tools and policies to support flexible arrangements. Employers are advised to coordinate in-office days, formalise remote policies and ensure that flexibility is part of a structured workforce plan.
Professor Heejung Chung, lead author of the report and Director of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, said managers must recognise shifting expectations.
“An increasing amount of research shows that well-designed hybrid working models offer significant benefits for both employers and employees. Alongside this, there has been a marked shift in attitudes, with workers now seeing flexibility as the norm,” she said.
She added that workers should feel confident in challenging return-to-office requirements, given growing evidence that flexible working does not reduce productivity.
“In fact, many studies are finding flexible workers tend to work longer and harder compared to those who do not work flexibly – and importantly, those who are able to work remotely tend to be more loyal and committed to their jobs.”
Alessandra Pacelli is a journalist and author contributing to HRreview, an HR news and opinion publication, where she covers topics including labour market trends, employment costs, and workplace issues. She is a journalism graduate and self-described lifelong dog lover who has also written for Dogs Today magazine since 2014.
- Alessandra Pacelli
- Alessandra Pacelli
- Alessandra Pacelli
- Alessandra Pacelli
