The rapid rise of remote working in SMEs

Working remotely for your employer means that you work mainly or exclusively away from their premises. In fact, in some cases, your employer may not have any premises, with all their staff working from home or in other appropriate locations, such as co-working spaces, libraries or coffee shops.

When you are operating within a hybrid working environment, this means that you are working from home (or elsewhere) for a proportion of your working week but are at the employer’s premises for the rest of the time.

Prior to the COVID pandemic, remote and hybrid working were slowly increasing, a pattern that changed significantly during the pandemic. Its popularity has only slowly decreased since restrictions were lifted.

A parliamentary research briefing on the subject (Mutebi and Hobbs, 2022) quotes the following figures:

Percentage of the UK workforce working from home

According to research by the British Chambers of Commerce surveying over 1000 businesses (of which 96% were SMEs) only 27% of companies expect their workforce to be fully in person over the next five years. This means 73% are expecting some form of remote or hybrid working to be the norm. It is important to note that this will be sector dependent, for example, more manufacturing companies will require in person workers than finance and legal firms.

For many SMEs, the advantages of remote or hybrid working are clear.

Watch this short video to hear the founder of group scheduling platform Schej talking about the benefits of hybrid working to both the employee and employer.

Other benefits include:

• Access to a wider, more diverse pool of employees
• An attractive staff benefit offering employees greater flexibility and a better work-life balance
• A positive impact on the environment – reducing the need for office space and cutting down on the daily commute.

In addition, the CIPD reports that 46% of organisations record greater employee productivity in a hybrid working environment.

There are also potential drawbacks for an SME employer to consider, such as a negative impact on organisational culture, the risk of reduced collaboration and employees feeling isolated.

You’ll find out more about the employee perspective, and consider your own views, in the next section.

Cyber security

An important element for SMEs to consider as they adopt remote and hybrid working is cyber security. This might have implications for you in the workplace. For example, you’ll need to become comfortable around using cloud-based software and cyber security solutions like VPNs and encryption tools.

As this is a serious issue for SMEs, you may find there is additional training on offer. If not, you may need to request it.

Over to you

Is cyber security something you feel you would need extra training in? Share your thoughts in the comments below. What training might you need?

Sharing your thoughts in this way might help you to realise that you are not alone, or perhaps recognise needs you hadn’t thought of! This could boost your confidence when raising a training need with your future employer.