6th March 2025
In the first half of 2021, nearly 60% of all British workers were forced to work from home because of new lockdown measures.
What they weren’t expecting? To enjoy it.
Remote working has always been an elusive position restricted to travelling finance workers, social media influencers, and journalists. Now, though, the better half of our population have experienced working from home.
This year, recruiters and hiring managers are opening up conversations with their clients as we continue to see an increasing number of candidate requests for flexible positions.
Hybrid work environments seem to be the future of operations for many industries, and Digital and Technology organizations will benefit from selling software platforms and online services that enable remote communications.
Remote workers are operating on their own schedules, starting later and taking longer breaks than office workers. On average, remote employees begin work at 10:45 am (compared to 9:37 am for those operating away from home), and spend 23 more minutes on break every single day.
Although remote workers seemingly work more hours than those in the office, they maintain a great work-life balance – with 74% believing this increased when they started working from home.
Throughout the pandemic, training for remote workers increased significantly as Human Resource Managers across Marketing, Digital and Technology industries looked to support the new way of working. This training allowed employees to escape the woes of micro-management and handle tasks efficiently by themselves, demonstrating their worth to the company and building opportunities to progress their career.
Before COVID-19 hit the UK, there was a wage penalty for many workers who operated exclusively at home – but a bonus for hybrid workers. Fluctuations in salary over the course of the pandemic make it difficult to judge if this is still the case. However, a global pay review by Payscale gives us a good indication of the difference in earnings across Marketing, Information Technology, and other high-skilled occupations:
(Source: Payscale)
Many workers reported struggling with their mental health in 2021, and continued remote working could enforce further feelings of isolation and loneliness; something that could cause huge issues in employee productivity and wellbeing. Long-term sickness could be expensive for industries already struggling to hire (such as Technology), with no replacements in sight. Similarly, Covid-19 depression is even reducing labour availability as a result of burnout, especially in creative jobs like Marketing.
As business offices open up again, we’re facing a real disparity between what Human Resource Managers would prefer, and what employees actually want.
As of 2022, remote work has dropped to 35% of our working population, and, hybrid work maintains a steady level of just 12%. Even though there are still huge health concerns in the UK, companies are already encouraging employees to return to their place of work. In fact, the Office of National Statistics discovered that nearly 2/5ths of businesses predict 75% of their workforce will go back to normal this year – a statistic that reveals a conflict between employer and employee beliefs for the future.
A RADA Business survey found that 45% of professionals are interested in making remote work a permanent part of their working lives, and Reed calculated that “over a third of UK workers (35%) would be willing to accept a pay cut in exchange for permanent remote working.”
Our industries are already facing a difficult human resource predicament: vast labour shortages and high competition.
Employees are a vital part of any growth strategy, and updating recruitment practices to be more flexible could be key to making the perfect hire. Instead of fighting candidates on what they want, these industries should adapt their business models (where possible) to allow for hybrid work – or risk losing talent to the competition.
Overall, Marketing, Digital, and Technology hiring managers will all have to be smart with their onboarding – adapting work benefits in order to stay ahead of the curve and demonstrate their ability to support employees.
Making prospective job candidates feel seen and understood will play a huge part in successful recruitment, and could be the secret for hiring in 2022.
Alternatively, working with Ross Clifford & Associates will allow growing Marketing, Digital, and Technology businesses to:
Forget everything you know about recruiters – traditional recruitment processes are broken. If you want to attract the Top 15% of candidates there needs to be a different approach, and we can help you.
How?
We listen. We understand. We care.
With two decades in executive search, we’re entrenched in the sectors we cover and our knowledge runs deep. We use intelligent search methods to connect with top talent, allowing us to deliver time and time again. We don’t just provide CVs, we provide the talent and support to help your business grow.