During 2023, office-based employers and employees tested whether to make remote or hybrid working permanent, or return to an on-site working norm. Approaches varied by sector and region.

It’s more common in Asia-Pacific to want employees in the workplace more or less full-time. Employees in China and Vietnam are largely back in the office on a pre-pandemic basis. It’s more common for employees to work from home at least some of the time in Indonesia, Japan and Singapore.

Elsewhere, hybrid working tends to be the rule, with employees typically spending between 40 and 60 percent of their time at the workplace. This varies by sector – financial services employers in particular encourage employees to be in the workplace four or five days a week.

Employers’ freedom of action is constrained by employee demand and tight labour markets. Employers in countries such as Germany would normally need works council agreement to revert to full-time office working, which they’re unlikely to get. Job candidates often ask for at least some ability to work from home.

Certain countries give employees a formal right to ask for flexible working, including hybrid working, although the right is often limited to those with caring responsibilities.

In Poland, parents of children under four have a right to ask for remote working and the employer should agree unless they have a good reason not to.

Italian law obliges employers to prioritise requests for flexible working from workers who are parents of under-12s or disabled children. This extends to workers with severe disabilities or who are caregivers. Until 31 March 2024, in the private sector frail workers and workers who are parents of under-14s are entitled to remote working without having to enter into individual remote working agreements normally required by law.

Spain recently expanded the right to adjust working hours through remote work. It now covers employees with children aged up to 12, or other family members or dependants living with them. Employers have 15 days to decide requests, and employees can normally return to their original work patterns once they no longer need to work reduced hours.

In other countries, employees can ask for flexible working even if they don’t have caring responsibilities. Last year the Hungarian government introduced a right to request flexible working for employees with six months’ service. Employers have 15 days to respond to a request and must explain their reasons for refusing a request in writing.

Mexico allows employees to agree with their employers to work remotely. They can also ask to return to an employer’s premises if they are working remotely. Employers must follow a reasonable process when considering requests. In practice, some employers have adopted voluntary hybrid working arrangements.

From April 2024 all employees in the United Kingdom can ask for flexible working, including remote working, for any reason. They no longer need to have 26 weeks’ service. Employers must consider requests within two months, down from three, and must consult before refusing a request. This could include proposing alternative flexible working arrangements. The right is still a right to ask, not a right to have. Employers can refuse a request for specified business reasons.

The government hopes employers will discuss flexible working options during recruitment, helping flexible working become the default. This would help older and disabled workers, as well as those with caring responsibilities, into work and cut the United Kingdom’s relatively high economically inactive population.

A proposal in the Netherlands last year (the Work where you Want Act) required employers to fairly consider remote working requests within certain limits, but did not give employees a right to work remotely. The Dutch senate rejected it in September 2023. This was partly because they believed tailor-made remote work arrangements should be agreed directly between employers and employees, including works councils and trade unions. Given that employees with at least 26 weeks’ service can already ask for a change of workplace if their employer has 10 or more employees, the rejection is not of huge practical significance.