Almost nine out of 10 employers expect to offer home-working post-pandemic according to new research from Howden Employee Benefits & Wellbeing.
But the research shows this is likely to cause problems for HR managers, with almost almost two thirds (64 per cent) saying changing working patterns will increase their workload, and 18 per cent saying it will “significantly” increase work stresses.
In total 88 per cent of businesses are looking to facilitate some sort of home-working, with around 39 per cent of respondents expecting partial home working to be available to all staff, and a further 46 per cent expecting this to be offered to some employee cohorts.
A further 3 per cent are intending to move to an entirely home-based working model after the pandemic restrictions are removed.
This results come from a survey of senior HR professionals working across public, private and third sector employers.
Steve Herbert, head of benefits strategy at Howden says: “From the employer perspective the benefits of continuing with at least some home-working include cost savings, improved engagement, higher productivity, and better employee wellbeing too.
“Yet a permanent change to partial or full home-working will inevitably pose new challenges for employers and their HR departments to manage, and our survey demonstrates that many human resources professionals expect their workload to increase accordingly as a result.”
Howden says the move towards more remote working should be matched with much greater flexibility and reach in company-sponsored employee benefit offerings to support employees.
More than half of the employers surveyed said they may need to improve (8 per cent) or review (44 per cent) their current benefits offering with this in mind.
Herbert adds: “We would strongly encourage many more employers to embrace flexible benefits and/or digital communication and delivery methods to better support the increasing numbers of remote workers in the 2020s.
“The pandemic is likely to represent a watershed moment in employment, and Howden would urge HR professionals to ensure that their company-sponsored employee benefits offerings reflect this significant shift in working practices.”