New research shows financial and professional services firms are still adjusting to hybrid working practices

 A report released today by Scottish Financial Enterprise (SFE) and international law firm CMS has highlighted the key challenges firms across Scotland’s financial and professional services industry are facing as they continue to adapt to post-pandemic ways of working.

The research hopes to spark an industry-wide conversation to help firms develop long-term policies that can be applied consistently, fairly and effectively across their workforces.

The report, titled Ways of Working: The Results, surveyed 46 companies from across SFE’s membership ranging from banking to wealth management to professional services.

It found that that while hybrid working has become the norm since the pandemic, no dominant model has emerged yet on how best to implement hybrid practices. Most firms are not enforcing any policy on minimum number of days and are encouraging rather than mandating a return to the office.

The results also show that flexibility has become a key consideration for workers, demonstrating how approaches to hybrid working might materially affect firms’ ability to attract new talent.

Key findings in the report include:

• 87% of employers are offering hybrid working, up from 46% pre-covid-19

• 36% of employers do not require staff to attend the office on a set number of days, while 36% required staff to be in at least three days per week.

• 81% of employers said job applicants ask about hybrid working approach at the first stage interview

• 77% of employers have seen an increase in the number of applicants from outside of their usual catchment

Commenting on the report, Gillian MacLellan, Partner, CMS, said:

“These results reinforce that we are at a bit of a crossroads when it comes to the hybrid transition. While hybrid has become standard practice, most businesses still lack clarity around how best to make it work in the long-term. Many businesses are focused on the everyday challenges, such as reconfiguring office space and agreeing an approach on the number of days employees should attend the office.

“Reaching the next stage will likely require businesses to identify balanced and mutually beneficial long-term solutions that harness the power of homes, offices, people and technology.”

Sandy Begbie CBE, Chief Executive, Scottish Financial Enterprise, said:

“The growth of homeworking since the pandemic has deepened and widened an ongoing conversation on aspects of working culture and patterns, and created a real opportunity to improve practices and introduce more flexible approaches to support the needs of individual employees.

“But our research shows this is no easy task. There is no one size fits all and businesses will need to find tailored solutions that reflect the diversity of people’s working preferences and requirements. The aim of this report is to kickstart some useful knowledge-sharing which can help to drive this process forward and SFE will be working with our members over the year ahead to support best practice that can enable this ambition.

“As SFE and our members have said consistently, employers and employees are best placed to engage and agree what works best for them and both the Scottish and UK governments should trust businesses to do the right thing.”