Peninsula Group, an employment law specialist, has conducted an annual survey of 79,000 businesses across Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the UK, to understand business sentiment and identify the latest trends. Questions are related to three key areas: business goals and concerns, staffing, and ways of working. A wide variety of businesses, both in size and industry, share details of their current employment practices and offer their perspective on the challenges currently facing employers.
In a recent article by The Times, they reported on the annual survey and focused on more businesses adopting flexible working practices despite some large companies calling employees back into the office.
In the UK, the trend in contract terms was away from full-time office-based work, with the number of businesses saying they required staff to work in the office all week falling from 51.2 percent to 44.4 percent.
Across the five countries covered — Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the UK — 79 percent of those surveyed reported no change in their working patterns from the previous year.
UK employers were far more likely than their international peers to offer contractual hybrid working as standard. The figure for UK firms stood at 20 percent, while in Australia just 10 percent did so.
In contrast, UK employers were among the least likely to say they have flexible working as standard, at 25 percent, the survey suggested.
The findings contrast with the behaviour of some larger companies that ordered their staff to return to the office full-time in 2024, such as Boots, Amazon, and JP Morgan. Others, such as BT, PwC, Starling Bank, and Asda, have recently clarified their expectations on hybrid or flexible working.
The changes in working practices come as the Government’s Employment Rights Bill makes its way through parliament, which includes changes in favour of employees who request flexible working.
Peninsula’s survey also highlighted that 64 percent of small and medium businesses internationally said rising costs were a top concern for 2025. This is down from 84 percent in the same survey last year. The figure remains higher in the UK at 88 percent.
Outside of costs, other points of concern were legislative changes at 44 percent and labour shortages at 24 percent.
To read the article in full visit: www.thetimes.com/article/a0c38292-414c-419e-8e4a-7916dd5e9360?shareToken=3e879cde55d1362a2159dcf30ef6087f
