Remote work may be over, but hybrid is here to stay

Return to office (RTO) mandates dominated headlines last year, and many of them kicked in at the start of this month. But despite vocal large employers decrying remote work, exclusive Startups data reveals that full-time office-based work is still on the decline. 

In our annual survey of SMEs, we asked 531 business leaders towards the end of 2024 about their workplace model. The results show that, since 2023, the number of employers who report operating in-office five days a week has declined from 28% to 19%.

The RTO debate has sowed division among workers, who favour home working for work-life balance, and leaders, who argue the office boosts productivity. Startups’ data suggests the latter are now “having their cake and eating it too”, by embracing hybrid working instead.

Fully remote work declines in 2024

2025 marks the start of a new half-decade. But for many white-collar workers, it is also the beginning of the end for remote work. Large retailers including Asda and Boots have called staff back to the workplace after years of pyjama-clad, at-home Zoom calls. 

Amazon is among the strictest. Last September, it told admin staff that they would be expected to work in-office five days a week from January 1, although HR bosses have already admitted that there is not enough desk space to accommodate the RTO policy.

Startups’ survey suggests that small and medium-sized firms have also embraced the Great Office Migration in the past year. Between 2023 and 2024, the number of businesses describing themselves as fully remote in our survey has halved from 32% to 16%.

Hybrid work wins

While remote work might be falling out of favour, the door hasn’t yet swung shut on flexible work for Brits. With both fully remote and in-office work models declining year-on-year, Startups’ survey suggests that the big winner from the RTO has instead been hybrid work.

18% of organisations surveyed by Startups last year said they supported a blend of in-office and remote working. In 2024, that figure rose to 26%. This surge in support for hybrid work schedules could be read as a rejection of the ‘work-at-home / work-in-the-office’ binary.

By encouraging office attendance, while allowing WFH when necessary, firms can balance in-person collaboration with the autonomy of remote work; avoiding protests from staff.

BT Group and Asda have upped the number of days that staff are expected to work in-office, rather than demanding a return to the pre-pandemic style of working.

This is likely why the use of coworking spaces has also surged. We found that 12% of SMEs now operate from serviced offices, up from just 2% in 2023. Most modern serviced offices now offer flexible contracts, providing a cheaper alternative to office leases for hybrid teams.

Work from anywhere on the rise

Our findings also indicate that Work from Anywhere (WFA) is on the rise. WFA policies are a type of flexible work agreement where employees are permitted to work remotely from any location for a set period of time.

The same survey reveals that 8% of businesses now offer WFA as a perk, while 27% are considering it for the new year, up from 11% in 2023. 

Of the firms that plan to introduce WFA next year, 13% say they will allow their employees to become a digital nomad and work remotely for selected periods of time, such as during the Christmas break or summer holidays.

These employers appear to be using WFA arrangements as a similar compromise to hybrid working. By maintaining control of the policy, the business can still offer this competitive employee benefit without risking productivity and teamwork during peak business periods.

Remote work is dead. Long live remote work.

RTO mandates may have roared back in 2024, but the Startups survey paints a picture of a workplace in flux this year. Tellingly, when we asked SMEs whether they planned to change their business model this year, just 14% said no. That’s compared to 44% in the year prior. Hybrid and coworking models are booming, while the rise of WFA suggests a shift towards location-agnostic work. 

The reign of the office is certainly not over, but its dominance within the business world looks considerably smaller amid a sea of flexible work possibilities. With the race for talent also set to heat up this year, SMEs must stay adrift of any emerging workplace trends.