When the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic started to subside, many people thought remote work would subside with it. But rather than being a temporary fix, remote work is now a normal part of how work is done in the UK. Businesses that once treated working from home as a perk are now changing their entire operations to accommodate hybrid or remote workers. Supporting remote employees has become a strategic necessity rather than just an added convenience.
The numbers don’t lie. Around 63% of UK workers now work remotely either some or all of the time, according to Forbes Advisor UK. The UK is also home to over 165,000 “digital nomads” who don’t have a fixed point from which they work. Not only that, but per Forbes, 45% of UK workers say they would consider a career change to become a digital nomad.
Why Remote is Here to Stay
So why has remote work stayed popular despite early discouragement and even active pushes against it? For one, hybrid and remote work benefit both employees and employers alike. For workers, having a more flexible schedule means better work-life balance, lower commuting costs, and broader job opportunities.
How is it good for employers as well? For one thing, organisations that invest in remote work often have higher morale, better productivity, and access to a bigger talent pool. There’s also the potential perk of reduced office space requirements and lower overhead.
The important thing is to maintain structure — flexibility without structure can too easily become chaos, and supporting a distributed workforce requires having certain policies and systems in place.
Supporting a Distributed Workforce
Follow UK Employment Laws and Obligations
Remote work doesn’t abdicate employers from certain legal responsibilities. UK employment law still applies whether a worker is “in the office” or not. Employers must make sure they’re in compliance with health and safety regulations when it comes to things like display screen equipment (DSE) assessments, covering rest breaks, maximum working hours, and data protocol and GDPR — especially important when employees access company systems remotely.
Optimise HR Processes
Conventional HR processes often involve in-person conversations, physical paperwork, and/or access to in-office support teams. Unfortunately, these models don’t translate 1:1 to remote environments. One way to get around this is to have HR help desk software integrated with your company systems. A modern HR help desk can act as a single point of contact for employee questions, requests and concerns, regardless of where your staff are located.
Give Employees the Right Tools
Just as with in-person work, it’s important to equip your employees with the tools they need — especially so when it comes to remote work. Reliable hardware, such as laptops or PCs that meet security standards, are a good start — but that’s all they are. Most UK employers increasingly provide access to secure communication tools (Microsoft Teams, Slack, Zoom), cloud-based productivity software, and recompense for home internet or ergonomic equipment. It’s also to make sure these tools are consistent across teams and departments — if you have different members using different communications or cloud tools, you’re most likely just creating unnecessary friction for your employees.
Create a Secure IT Environment
Information security is critical to the effective functioning of any company or organisation, and doubly so when you introduce remote work into the equation. Remote work introduces new cybersecurity risks — home networks, shared devices, and increased vulnerability to phishing attacks are just the start. To protect both your business and your employees, it’s important to implement VPN access for secure connections, multi-factor authentication across major systems, and endpoint protection for devices. Make sure to have IT and HR work closely together to make sure security policies are clearly written and communicated, and engage in regular security training and phishing awareness campaigns.
Build Connection and a Sense of Belonging
There’s considerable debate about whether offices are necessary for good interpersonal interactions, but it’s true that isolation is one of the biggest risks of remote and hybrid work. Employees who are rarely or ever in the office could end up feeling disconnected, overlooked, or less visible than their colleagues. To combat this, it’s wise to schedule regular one-on-one check-ins between managers and team members, host the occasional virtual team event or catch-up, and be sure to create inclusive meeting practices that don’t end up favoring office-based staff.
Supporting the UK Workforce of the Future
Remote work isn’t going away — it’s not deeply embedded in the culture of work in the UK, and there’s largely no choice for businesses other than to support remote and hybrid team members as best they can. Those who invest in clear policies, secure infrastructure, and accessible support are going to have a major advantage over their competition moving into the future. Those who don’t run the risk of being left behind.