RingCentral, a leading provider of global enterprise cloud communications, today shares research exposing the views of UK employees on remote, hybrid, and full-time office work.

Key highlights include: 

• One in ten (10%) of workers currently feel unproductive and one fifth (20%) say they feel burned out at work
• When working from home, more than half (51%) of UK employees feel more productive. This increases to 59% of information workers when working from home, compared to 34% when in an office 
• Almost a third (32%) of full-time office-based workers would prefer to be in the office just a few days a week  

Burnout bites and productivity halts

When it comes to current feelings of productivity and work-life balance, employees that are already hybrid workers are more likely to say that they feel more productive, and that they have a good work life balance than full-time office-based workers by 11 and 16 percentage points higher respectively. One fifth (20%) of full time in person workers currently feel unmotivated, compared with 17% of hybrid workers. Almost a quarter (22%) of full-time office-based workers say they feel burned out, compared with 15% of hybrid workers who split their time between home and office working. 

As economists predict the UK will face the worst and longest recession in the G7 group of countries, compounded by prolonged weakness in productivity, RingCentral urges business leaders to embrace a hybrid working model to avoid additional suffering during the recession. 

Decision makers are driving quiet quitting

RingCentral also found a stark difference in how seniority within a business affects viewpoints on “quiet quitting”*. Almost a quarter (24%) of business decision makers say they feel burned out, compared with 18% of non-business decision makers. Therefore, it’s unsurprising that over half (54%) of business decision makers are “quiet quitting” and disengaging from their work, compared with 40% of non-business decision makers.

Hybrid remains the preference for most 

One in five (20%) workers dread working from an office, and less than one in ten (8%) information workers want to be in an office every day. Flexibility is so important to these employees that many would entertain some drastic changes in order to have it - over half (58%) would change jobs or industries for hybrid or remote work, and 60% would rather work remotely or hybrid for an extra 3 years over working in the office full time for the rest of their career. 

Louise Newbury-Smith, Country Manager, UK and Ireland, RingCentral comments: “Productivity is the backbone of the UK economy, and business leaders need to ensure they are doing everything they can to maximise output, given the gloomy economic forecast. With ten percent of the workforce currently feeling unproductive, businesses should consider anything that has the potential to improve workforce productivity. The data sends a clear message: businesses that want to keep their workforce productive must cater to modern needs and offer a hybrid working environment, or risk suffering during the recession.” 

“The pandemic proved that with the right collaboration tools, it is possible to connect and empower the workforce and build highly productive teams, all the while giving employees the flexibility to manage work around other commitments.”