Laptop to desktop: Technology workers are drifting back to work

Image: © Tim Sandle

Work from home, back to the office, or a hybrid? For the UK technology sector, it appears there has been a resurgence of in-office workdays, with Monday to Wednesday emerging as the top choices for in-office workdays.

This tallies with a statement made by Elon Musk earlier in the year: “Anyone who wishes to do remote work must be in the office for a minimum (and I mean *minimum*) of 40 hours per week or depart Tesla”.

While Musk may not be taking an enlightened view when it comes to employment relations (and such dictatorial approaches would not be lawful in the UK), it further emphasises the technology sector trend.

The company Techspace has issued a report titled Scaleup Culture Report. The report offers insights into the current state of workplace culture within the UK tech industry.

In other related changes, the report finds that the number of companies adopting hybrid working models has reduced by one-third, with many transitioning to full-time office-based roles. People seem to prefer an average of three days in the office per week, a 30 per cent shift from last year.

One reason why people in the technology sector are keen to return to the office might relate to concerns with artificial intelligence. The report highlights 26 per cent of London technology employees expressing apprehensions about AI replacing roles, emphasising the need to balance innovation with addressing workforce anxieties.

Longer-term, many respondents believe returning to a five-day workweek is a good idea, driven by challenges in team productivity (35 per cent) and communication (33 per cent) when working from home.

For facilities that do not have permanent offices, there was a 79 per cent increase in respondents using flexible office space year over year. A considerable number of companies have shifted from longer-term leasehold agreements to more flexible contracts as a result of the pandemic. Full-time remote respondents who use coworking spaces for drop-in days are likely to influence this increase.

The report was conducted by Sapio Research and based on a survey of 2,000 tech employees.

Jonathan Bevan, CEO of Techspace, says in a statement provided to Digital Journal: “Much of the narrative over the last few years has concerned what employees think is best for them. Our 2023 report showed a very clear difference between the days employees chose to be in the office and the number of days they felt necessary for their team or company to work at its best.”

Bevan adds: “So, it’s interesting to witness employees choosing more in-person work this year and, in turn, effectively closing that gap. The report suggests this down to the need to collaborate, the social side of being with work colleagues and also an increasing recognition that new ideas come best through in person interaction.”