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As organisations grapple with the evolving landscape of work, building future-ready workforces and understanding the true impact of hybrid working is crucial.
The debate surrounding remote and hybrid working has reignited, fuelled by recent pronouncements from prominent business figures Lord Rose and Lord Sugar. Their assertions, challenging the productivity and effectiveness of employees working from home, have sparked widespread discussion.
Do their claims align with reality, or does the data, alongside the experiences of employers and employees, show us something different?
Lord Sugar's assertion that "you don’t learn sitting at home in your pyjamas in front of a Mac"1 and Lord Rose’s similar sentiment that employees’ “personal development suffers”2 touches on a complex aspect of professional development.
While these statements may appear intuitively true, Best Companies' data reveals that employees engaging in hybrid work models, specifically those working from home 1-2 days or 2-3 days a week, report significantly higher scores in Personal Growth; 5.6% and 5.2% respectively higher than fully remote staff, and 7.3% and 6.9% higher than those in the office full-time.
Moreover, the fact that employees working full-time in the office consistently score lowest in Personal Growth directly contradicts the notion that physical presence inherently fosters development. It implies that the traditional office environment is failing to provide the learning and development experiences employees seek.
However, the data also offers some support for the Lords’ arguments. Remote workers, while not scoring as low as their fully office-based counterparts, still rank second lowest in Personal Growth. This indicates that solely remote environments present unique challenges to learning and development, potentially due to reduced opportunities for informal knowledge sharing and mentorship as suggested by Lords Rose and Sugar.
For organisations striving to cultivate a future-ready workforce, the data suggests that a balanced approach, like hybrid working, may be optimal for fostering personal growth and development. This model potentially combines the autonomy and focused work time of remote work with the collaborative and learning opportunities of in-office interaction.
Lord Rose and Lord Sugar have further voiced strong concerns regarding the productivity of remote workers. Lord Rose believes we risk "a generation of people who are used to actually not doing what I call proper work," while Lord Sugar asserts it's impossible for remote workers to "work as hard or productive" as those in a physical workplace.
Assessing productivity, particularly on an individual level, presents a significant challenge. Simply measuring the volume of work completed doesn't always equate to effectiveness in achieving key business objectives.
A more insightful lens through which to view productivity, at least on an organisational scale, is the overall performance of a business. Data from 2021 indicated that one of the reasons a substantial 48.3%3 of businesses opted to maintain home working arrangements was due to increased productivity. Furthermore, organisations with "fully flexible" policies have demonstrated a remarkable 21% industry-adjusted revenue growth rate, significantly outperforming companies with more restrictive policies which achieved a 5% growth rate4.
This directly challenges the assertions made by Lord Rose and Lord Sugar and that the hybrid environment, rather than hindering productivity, actually fosters it. For organisations aiming to build a future-ready workforce, embracing flexible work policies allows businesses to tap into a wider talent pool, enhance employee autonomy, and potentially achieve greater growth.
Lord Sugar has also stated that remote work is "bad for morale" and Lord Rose's broader claim that it has contributed to a 20-year regression in the country's wellbeing in just four years paint a bleak picture. However, data on employee wellbeing paints a contrasting reality. Best Companies' findings indicate a clear trend: the more frequently individuals work from home, the higher their reported wellbeing scores.
Specifically, employees working remotely for more than 60% of their time consistently score highest across the majority of wellbeing statements, and their overall wellbeing surpasses that of their hybrid and fully office-based counterparts.
Furthermore, when looking at the "My Team" factor, which significantly contributes to overall morale and a sense of belonging, hybrid workers (those working from home between 1-3 days a week) report the highest scores.
Understanding these nuances is crucial for building a future-ready workforce, and prioritising employee wellbeing as a cornerstone of engagement and productivity is vital to this process. The data strongly suggests that flexible work can actually be a significant driver of a positive and engaged workforce.
The perspectives offered by Lord Rose and Lord Sugar, while reflecting concerns held by some regarding remote and hybrid work, find limited support in the comprehensive data available. In fact, the evidence from Best Companies and broader industry trends suggests a more positive reality.
Hybrid working appears to offer a sweet spot for personal growth, outperforming both fully remote and fully office-based models. Furthermore, flexible work policies are associated with stronger revenue growth, indicating that productivity is not necessarily diminished, and may even be enhanced, outside the traditional office. Crucially, employee wellbeing and team morale tend to be higher among those with flexible working arrangements, directly contradicting claims of widespread negative impact.
As organisations continue to shape their future, embracing data-driven insights over anecdotal observations will be paramount in building truly future-ready workforces that are engaged, productive, and thriving. To understand how Best Companies' data insights can help your organisation navigate the complexities of hybrid working, optimise employee engagement, and build a future-ready workforce, contact us today.
1 https://www.hrgrapevine.com/content/article/2025-01-31-alan-sugar-says-workers-must-get-their-bums-back-into-the-office
2 https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jan/20/working-from-home-not-doing-proper-work-stuart-rose
3 https://www.forbes.com/uk/advisor/business/remote-work-statistics/
4 https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenamcgregor/2023/11/14/companies-with-flexible-remote-work-policies-outperform-on-revenue-growth-report/?utm_source=linkedin_newsletter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=forbes_edge
