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Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Post-Covid home working has failed to level up UK economy, study finds
The post-pandemic shift to greater home working among highly skilled professionals has failed to level up Britain's economy and help struggling regions as many had predicted it would, according to academic research. Hybrid working – where workers split their time between the workplace and another remote location such as home – has surged since the height of the Covid pandemic, yet is mostly available to older, high-skilled professionals based in London and other major cities. The researchers found that just over half (52%) of all UK workers never work from home, but this falls to less than a third (29%) of highly skilled workers. The prevalence of hybrid roles over those that are fully remote means most staff who can work from home are still tied to a city centre workplace. This has dashed hopes that the post-Covid world of work would prompt professionals to move and thereby spread talent around the country, according to a report from academics at the universities of St Andrews and Southampton and others. 'There has been no mass relocation of highly skilled workers to cheaper places as we might have hoped at the start of the pandemic,' said Dr David McCollum, one of the report's co-authors and a senior geography lecturer at St Andrews. 'People are still opting to live in places that offer the best wages and the best opportunities for their profession. If they are relocating, they are not moving that far away as they still have to go to their place of work on a weekly basis, usually a few days a week.' When highly skilled workers move house, the main reason tends to be a need for more space rather than it being determined by their job, the researchers found. The report, which was funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Economic and Social Research Council, urged policymakers to take action to prevent home working from deepening regional divides, as local challenges such as skill shortages, economic inactivity and low-quality jobs cannot be solved just by attracting the most-skilled workers. 'If high earners relocate, that can push up house prices, which can exacerbate inequalities at a local scale,' McCollum said. Related: Parents working from home is affecting school attendance, says Ofsted chief At a time when the Labour government is aiming to have 50% of all senior civil servants based outside London within five years, the report's authors have called on ministers to consider incentivising firms to establish remote or hybrid work hubs in the UK's second-tier cities, as well as investing in co-working and business support spaces outside the capital to help redistribute economic activity. Employees who are able to work from home value hybrid working the same as an 8% pay rise, according to Nicholas Bloom, a Stanford economics professor who has studied home working for two decades. 'If you think of somebody that is working 45 or 50 hours a week in an office, they've got a 45-minute additional commute. If they get to work from home two, three days a week, they're saving about 8% of their total time,' Bloom told a House of Lords committee, set up to investigate how the rise of remote and hybrid working has affected employers, employees and the wider British economy. 'I would say hybrid helps retention and recruitment and, if it's well organised, is about net zero on productivity,' Bloom told peers on Tuesday. Earlier in May the world's biggest asset management company, BlackRock, became the latest company to call time on an era of remote working by ordering its senior managers back to the office full-time, in a change from its previous four-day-a-week policy. The New York-based company, which employs more than 21,000 people globally, is one of a handful of companies to have followed the Amazon by reinstating pre-pandemic ways of working. Bloom said he believed companies issuing full return-to-office mandates hoped this would make staff leave, thereby helping them reduce their headcount. 'That fifth day in particular, it just annoys people. To force them in on Friday doesn't seem to improve productivity,' he said.
The National
19-05-2025
- Politics
- The National
Scotland needs migration more than the rest of the UK. Here's why
An ageing population, a low birth rate, and successive Westminster Government's who are hostile to immigration, could pose an existential threat to the country's future, particularly in rural areas. Last week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer prompted outrage by describing the UK as becoming an 'island of strangers' and moving his Government's immigration policy further to the right. But Scotland has its specific problems, and while powers over migration are reserved to Westminster, it leaves little room to address the issue. READ MORE: Inside the extreme far-right plot to infiltrate Reform UK The last Scottish Census revealed that if it hadn't been for migration, Scotland's population would have declined. Academics told The National that there is demonstrable evidence that Scotland needs migration more than other parts of the UK. Equalities Minister Kaukab Stewart, whose portfolio includes population and migration, said Scottish needs were 'totally ignored' by the UK Government. 'In about a third of our local authorities, populations are actually declining in real terms,' Dr David McCollum, senior lecturer at St Andrews University, told The National. 'We've got an aging population, lower fertility rates in the UK, we've got a more dispersed population, so Scotland arguably needs migration more than other parts of the UK. (Image: Dr David McCollum) 'However, as migration remains reserved to Westminster, Scotland has very little control over immigration.' Rural areas, McCollum (above) adds, are 'top heavy in the sense there's lots of older people in these places'. There are higher needs for care workers, and to fill roles in hospitality and other seasonal industries such as hospitality, tourism, agriculture, fisheries and others. 'It would probably be a bit simplistic to say migration, potentially would solve this, but certainly in the short term, it would prevent the most severe implications of this demographic decline in Scotland,' he added. Brexit has also undoubtedly had an impact on migration to Scotland. Dr Anna Gawlewicz, senior lecturer at the University of Glasgow, conducted research looking at rural communities and migration. "Migration is very important," she said. 'Migrants also contribute, not only to the labour force, but also to the community more broadly. 'One thing that we found in our research was that apart from contributing hugely to all those sectors [care, hospitality, agriculture] migrant workers also contribute significantly to local communities. READ MORE: Shirley-Anne Somerville defends top tax rate after millionaire cut call After Brexit, the number of migrants coming from the EU were replaced by those who are from further afield, such as Central Asia and Africa. 'Migrants from those places are viewed as more disenfranchised because they often come on very kind of temporary, restrictive contracts and restrictive visas, on specific governmental programs,' she explained. 'For example, the Seasonal Worker schemes, and because of that, they don't really have opportunities to settle and they don't have the opportunities to contribute to local communities.' In the last Census, Scotland's population increased by 2.7% to 5,436,600, hitting a record high. However, the National Records of Scotland has previously said that without migration, the population of Scotland would have decreased by around 49,800 since 2011. In rural areas, such as the Highlands, Dumfries and Galloway, and island communities, the impact of population decline is even more stark. Dumfries and Galloway's population was 145,502 in 1981, and despite some growth spurts, in 2021 it was only 146,250. That's an increase of only 748 people in the space of 40 years. In the Highlands, the population had a steady growth from 1981 when it was 194,903. However, it has slowed in recent years with 232,730 people in 2011, 234,570 in 2016, and 235,850 in 2021. Stewart, SNP MSP and Equalities Minister, told The National that Scotland certainly has 'distinct' challenges, with migration currently the 'only maintenance' of the population size. 'One of the aims that we have as a Government is to build cohesive communities and we can't do that unless we have all sorts of people, including with families, that are coming and staying,' she explained. (Image: PA) Stewart (above) told how she had taken part in discussions with the UK Government about various visa pilot schemes that would help to address Scotland's challenges 'The new Government were very keen on resetting the relationship and listening to us,' she said. 'Unfortunately, the evidence is quite clear that they haven't listened to us, and in fact in certain areas, not only have they maintained the status quo, but they've actually gone backwards and an example of that is the graduate visa route.' The minister noted the Scottish Government's New Scots refugee strategy that aims to make 'people feel welcome from day one'. The UK Government's approach, Stewart added, 'flies in the face of it'. We previously told how an independent Scotland would seek to be the 'polar opposite' of a 'hostile' Westminster when it comes to migration policy, according to a Scottish Government white paper.
The Guardian
15-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Post-Covid home working has failed to level up UK economy, study finds
The post-pandemic shift to greater home working among highly skilled professionals has failed to level up Britain's economy and help struggling regions as many had predicted it would, according to academic research. Hybrid working – where workers split their time between the workplace and another remote location such as home – has surged since the height of the Covid pandemic, yet is mostly available to older, high-skilled professionals based in London and other major cities. The researchers found that just over half (52%) of all UK workers never work from home, but this falls to less than a third (29%) of highly skilled workers. The prevalence of hybrid roles over those that are fully remote means most staff who can work from home are still tied to a city centre workplace. This has dashed hopes that the post-Covid world of work would prompt professionals to move and thereby spread talent around the country, according to a report from academics at the universities of St Andrews and Southampton and others. 'There has been no mass relocation of highly skilled workers to cheaper places as we might have hoped at the start of the pandemic,' said Dr David McCollum, one of the report's co-authors and a senior geography lecturer at St Andrews. 'People are still opting to live in places that offer the best wages and the best opportunities for their profession. If they are relocating, they are not moving that far away as they still have to go to their place of work on a weekly basis, usually a few days a week.' When highly skilled workers move house, the main reason tends to be a need for more space rather than it being determined by their job, the researchers found. The report, which was funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Economic and Social Research Council, urged policymakers to take action to prevent home working from deepening regional divides, as local challenges such as skill shortages, economic inactivity and low-quality jobs cannot be solved just by attracting the most-skilled workers. 'If high earners relocate, that can push up house prices, which can exacerbate inequalities at a local scale,' McCollum said. At a time when the Labour government is aiming to have 50% of all senior civil servants based outside London within five years, the report's authors have called on ministers to consider incentivising firms to establish remote or hybrid work hubs in the UK's second-tier cities, as well as investing in co-working and business support spaces outside the capital to help redistribute economic activity. Employees who are able to work from home value hybrid working the same as an 8% pay rise, according to Nicholas Bloom, a Stanford economics professor who has studied home working for two decades. 'If you think of somebody that is working 45 or 50 hours a week in an office, they've got a 45-minute additional commute. If they get to work from home two, three days a week, they're saving about 8% of their total time,' Bloom told a House of Lords committee, set up to investigate how the rise of remote and hybrid working has affected employers, employees and the wider British economy. 'I would say hybrid helps retention and recruitment and, if it's well organised, is about net zero on productivity,' Bloom told peers on Tuesday. Earlier in May the world's biggest asset management company, BlackRock, became the latest company to call time on an era of remote working by ordering its senior managers back to the office full-time, in a change from its previous four-day-a-week policy. The New York-based company, which employs more than 21,000 people globally, is one of a handful of companies to have followed the Amazon by reinstating pre-pandemic ways of working. Bloom said he believed companies issuing full return-to-office mandates hoped this would make staff leave, thereby helping them reduce their headcount. 'That fifth day in particular, it just annoys people. To force them in on Friday doesn't seem to improve productivity,' he said.
