As we all settle down to some welcome time off for Christmas and New Year, a quiet revolution on how many days a week many of us work, has been gathering pace. I must admit that as an ex-editor of newspapers, I have always been of the view that creativity in work goes hand in glove with working together and learning from each other.

However, since Covid and the difficulties that companies are still experiencing in recruitment, we are now in a totally different employment game.That is simply that five days working in the office is a thing of the past with only one in four firms expecting their staff to be in the office full time in the coming years. This view comes after new research from the British Chambers of Commerce, of which Business West is a major part and the technology firm, Cisco.

This work survey of over 1 000 businesses -of which 96% were SMEs-found that just 27% of firms surveyed have predicted staff will be full time over the next five years. The research found a clear divide in different sectors on working patterns with financé and legal businesses more likely to expect remote working.

Jane Gratton, deputy director of public policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, says: “Our data shows that hybrid working is now part of the fabric of the modern workplace… For millions of people, logging in remotely for at least part of the working week is now routine”. In a tight labour market, she is right. Skills-and the lack of them-is a major challenge for businesses to grow. We simply have to recognise that flexible working is here to stay and a key element in attracting good people with so many jobs on offer.

We have, however, seen some large employers like the Nationwide Building Society saying its 13 000 workers must be in the office at least two days a week or 40% of their time. Hybrid working is bound to increase as companies  face the difficult challenge of getting experienced people back into work after Covid. But good hybrid working still requires good leadership.