Remote working positions have trebled since start of pandemic
Image credit: Dreamstime
The number of remote working roles advertised within the UK has trebled since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a consulting firm's research.
The New Street Consulting Group said around 80,700 vacancies for remote working were advertised at the end of last year, up from 26,600 at the same time the year before.
Many firms have been forced to introduce home working options for their employees due to the imposition of social distancing to varying degrees of success. A report in June 2020 found that engineering firms in the UK were one of the least prepared sectors to deal with the new rules.
On the other hand, technology firms such as Google, Apple and Facebook have adapted quickly, with the latter saying it will continue to allow employees to work from home even after lockdowns have ended.
This rise in the number of remote roles has allowed businesses to experiment with cutting office space to reduce overheads.
Whilst highly paid leadership roles are often assumed to have some flexible working allowance ‘built-in’, the figures shows that many businesses are more likely to have junior staff working remotely than management teams, with 70 per cent of roles advertised as being remote earning less than £50K per year and only 3 per cent advertised at more than £100K per year.
Natalie Douglass, New Street Consulting Group, said: “Businesses are now deciding how many of their staff they are going to bring back into the office once this crisis is finally over and how many can stay remote.
“Most businesses take the view that staff and tasks are better off in an office environment where close team working, collaboration and mentoring can more easily take place.
“However, we are certainly going to see a more hybrid workforce with working from home an option for at least some of their staff.
“Feedback we get is that many staff have missed interacting with their colleagues, that the experience of working from home has been isolating. Obviously not everyone has a space that they can easily work from.”
Earlier this month, it emerged that the amount of unrecycled e-waste produced in the UK has grown substantially in recent months due to the purchase of new IT equipment for home working.
Sign up to the E&T News e-mail to get great stories like this delivered to your inbox every day.
