Can the working from home model survive the energy crisis? | Jane Parry

Housing, train fares, geography and childcare costs will determine if hybrid working weathers the winter

After two years of global crisis, the genie is well and truly out of the bottle when it comes to work: employees in the UK no longer want the 9-to-5, bookended by an exhausting and expensive commute.

Anecdotally, that might seem obvious. But having documented the changes to organisational life through the Covid-19 pandemic as part of the Work after Lockdown project (funded by the Economic and Social Research Council), what is significant about these findings is that this mindset shift appears to be permanent. Figures show nearly 40% of working adults in Great Britain are now working across multiple locations in a hybrid working model. However, as the energy crisis threatens to bite, there are warnings that this winter's looming energy crisis could kill off our new working culture". So, which one is it?

Jane Parry is an associate professor of work and employment and director of the Centre for Research on Work and Organisations at Southampton Business School, University of Southampton