Considering hybrid working as part of your job search

How to factor hybrid working into your next job search 

With a new study confirming that hybrid working has benefits for job satisfaction, productivity and wellbeing, what are the implications if you’re looking for your next role? In this blog I explain how to factor hybrid working into your job search.  

Work that works for you 

The critical factor when looking for a new role is your own needs – what is it that will make your next job perfect for you? As part of your job search, considering the working pattern is now one of the factors you need to weigh up, along with the responsibilities of the role, location, salary and other more traditional factors. It’s also important to think about whether the organisation’s values and culture are right for you, as I explained in a previous blog.  

Clearly there are some roles for which the working pattern is non-negotiable – if you work on the frontline of logistics and distribution or on the shop floor in retail, you’re unlikely to be able to negotiate a hybrid working pattern. That’s not to say flexibility may not be an option, but working from home almost certainly won’t be universally available.  

There are still benefits to being in an office 

There are lots of reasons why people might prefer to still go into an office. For example, graduates whose only space for a desk is their bedroom and who are keen to learn might prefer to be among colleagues for all their working week.  

A lot of observational learning can happen when you’re immersed in a team. You can overhear how someone handles a difficult conversation or see how people behave in stressful situations. For graduates and people in the early part of their career especially this is useful, but this learning opportunity is also valuable for people learning new roles or who’ve joined a new organisation.  

For extroverts who get their energy from being around people, the opportunity for connection is important and is worth factoring into your job search. And people with caring responsibilities for parents who just “pop round” because they don’t realise you can be both at home and at work may also want the separation that being in the office provides.  

Your preferred working pattern – hybrid, remote, flexible? 

What’s important is thinking about what your best-case scenario working pattern is, being aware of what you’d compromise on, and knowing where working arrangements rank in terms of all the factors you’re using to weigh up whether a job is right for you.  

Do you want to choose which days you work from home and which you go into the office? Or would you be happy that your employer makes it mandatory for you to be at your office desk on certain days each week?  

Do you want or need additional flexibility over and above where you work? This could include flexi-time, whether total flexibility or having core hours you need to be available, but being able to choose the remaining hours you work.  

Would a nine-day fortnight be something you’d like to do? This is where you work two weeks’ worth of hours in nine days, taking the tenth off.  

Considering your preferred working pattern and factoring it into your job search is an important part of the process. Many sites give you the option to tick a box about hybrid or flexible working when searching for roles, so knowing what you’re looking for is important.  

Hybrid working trends in the UK jobs market 

It’s fair to say there’s been a seismic shift in working patterns since the Covid-19 pandemic. Just 4.7% of UK employees worked from home in 2019 according to the ONS. A new 2024 report which looks at global trends showed 44% of employees opting for flexible work environments.  

According to the Flex Index, which now tracks UK stats having been confined to US data prior to 2024, 72% of corporate employers offer work location flexibility and 44% of corporate organisations have a structured hybrid model, which specifies how much time employees need to spend in the office.  

And since April 2024, all UK employees have the right to request flexible working from their first day in the job. This covers your working pattern, hours, and start and finish times. Employers have to consider requests in a reasonable manner. This change in the law is likely to make flexible working even more common in future.  

Do you want to have hybrid working for your next job? 

It’s clear that most employers have realised that requiring people to work in the office five days a week isn’t going to help them attract the best talent. And with the new right to make a flexible working request from day one in the job, employees have more power than ever to control their working pattern.  

So when thinking about your next job search, consider whether hybrid working is right for you, and what you’d be willing to compromise on when it comes to your work location and working pattern. Is your working pattern the number one priority when it comes to your next role, or are there other factors you wouldn’t want to compromise on, leaving that as something you’d be willing to accept a less than perfect situation for?  

If you want a safe space to discuss how to factor hybrid working into your next job search, drop me an email to schedule a free call to see how I can support you to land your dream role.