Back in March 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we all thought that working from home would be a temporary change to ways of working, with perhaps a few weeks of disruption before workers could go back to their workplaces full time. However, it quickly became clear that this was not the case. Fast forward 18 months, and after several lockdowns and a myriad of changes to working practices, many employers are now encouraging their employees back in to physical workplaces. Yet there is still a great deal of uncertainty about how long this situation will last for, with the Government warning that 'Plan B' may be necessary over the coming winter period, which could see a return to increased home based working.

In our recent seminar "Hybrid Working and the Progressive Employer", our multidisciplinary panel from our human capital consulting, tax and employment law teams, discussed the challenges associated with hybrid working. We asked our attendees how their businesses are operating faced with such uncertainty.

The responses to our poll showed that:-

• 38% are still largely homebased;
• 33% have already launched a hybrid working model;
• 23% are trialling a hybrid model;
• 12% are still discussing options; and
• 5% have returned to the office full time.

While these poll results are by no means empirical, the results nevertheless provide a sense that show that the workplace is still in a state of flux, and is anything but certain at the moment which may make planning for the future challenging. To find out more about the topics we discussed, see below.

Our teams in employment law, human capital consulting and employment taxes are here to help. Please get in touch with us if you are interested in finding out more.