Amazon this week became the latest large company to order staff back into the office five days a week.
In a memo to staff, CEO Andy Jassy claimed the change will help staff be “better set up to invent, collaborate, and be connected enough to each other”.
With social distancing now a distant memory, is the UK IT channel taking a leaf from Amazon’s book and giving hybrid working the boot?
Who better to ask than four of the UK IT sector’s top recruiters, who are profiling vacancies at vendors, distributors and partners day in day out.
What are the hallowed quartet of Zoe Chatley, Marc Sumner, Calum Lyle and Charlotte Hallam really seeing in the market? Let’s find out…
Zoe Chatley, Founder and CEO, The Channel Recruiter
Are you seeing any rise in the number of vendors, distributors or channel partners tightening their ‘return to work’ policies, and have any implemented a five-day-office policy specifically?
We are indeed. Whilst there is not a huge amount, I have been in meetings with VARs and some distributors recently where they are either implementing a return to five days or floating the idea. There’s certainly keen interest in doing so from higher management, but they are getting push back from feedback groups.
Has there been a dip in the percentage of remote roles you’re hiring?
I am seeing a dip in fully remote, yes, and we have done for at least the last year or so. I would guess a good 90% of the roles we work on/companies we work with have a solid hybrid working policy, but insist on at least three days in the office as a standard across the business which are written within employees contracts.
In his note to employees, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wrote that the “advantages of being together in the office are significant”. Yet detractors of full-time office-based roles say it leads to ‘presenteeism’, lower productivity, lower staff retention and higher illness/stress. What’s your view?
I am a firm believer in having a mix of both. The beauty of hybrid working is it gives the best of both worlds. I do 100% believe that since we all went hybrid or remote we are more productive. I speak to many people at all levels across the channel who prefer working from home days because there are fewer distractions, and they get far more done.
On the other hand, being fully remote or fewer days in the office can mean a weaker team culture and morale. What we’re seeing is a demand for more entry-level roles, such as junior sales, back-office support, and finance, being office based more now, especially sales.
Labour is preparing to make flexible working the default option for working from day one on the job. How has this gone down with your clients?
I would say we have certainly had a few grumpy, unhappy clients talk about this. If Labour passes this “right to disconnect” I think we can all see some potential challenges, but employers will have to review their current policies and negotiate contracts with their employees that suits both parties. The challenge naturally is, if an employee only wants to work four days a week, how much will they achieve during that time frame? Is it realistic to do that particular job role etc? We know that generally women in particular are more likely to work part-time, and that part time can work and has worked for years. I have personally worked a four-day week prior to having my own business and managed to over-achieve my targets time after time. I was more effective and productive as I had a shorter time scale to get my job done and I know many others who say the same. It’s certainly going to be interesting.
“Terrible culturally”… Charlotte Hallam makes her feelings known on following page…
