Working from home increases productivity, says Jonathan Reynolds

Allowing flexible working and working from home creates a more productive and loyal workforce, the business secretary said.

In an interview with the TimesJonathan Reynolds said employers “need to judge people on results and not a culture of presenteeism”.

Labor is set to unveil its Employment Bill of Rights, which includes measures such as the right to “disconnect” outside working hours, a ban on zero-hours contracts and allowing workers to compress their contracted hours into fewer working days.

Business groups have raised concerns about the plans, warning it could push up the cost of hiring staff and have the unintended consequence of ending overtime.

However, Reynolds said Labour’s plans to tackle workers’ rights should not be alarming for business leaders.

From April, the workers had the right – introduced under the previous government – to ask for flexible work as soon as they start a job, but the companies do not agree.

Labor has promised to introduce legislation on workers’ rights within 100 days of being elected, although Reynolds said this would not mean immediate changes to the law.

The plans include a right to flexible working by “default” and the repeal of anti-strike legislation brought in under the Conservatives.

Reynolds criticized one of his Tory predecessors, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, who had said he wanted to end the culture of working from home in the civil service, but also in wider industry.

“This is quite strange given the economic position the country was in and the real business agenda that needs to be pursued,” Reynolds said.

The interview coincides with an ad from Amazon that all staff will be expected to work in the office five days a week from January.

The company said staff could still work from home in unusual circumstances, such as caring for a sick child or an emergency at home, but chief executive Andy Jassy said “our expectation is that people will be in the office”.

Earlier this year, Morrisons scrapped four-day working weeks for its head office staff following feedback that, to make it work, staff had to work some Saturdays.

Asda also canceled a four-day-a-week trial after staff complained the longer shifts were too demanding.

Professor Efpraxia Zamani, associate professor of information systems at Durham University Business School, said flexible working offered many benefits to women, but there was a flip side.

“It gives you access to a wider range of possibilities for work. Let’s say you’re a woman living in a rural area, it means you can get a job further away without having to travel.

“The flexibility of working from home means you can do your job and still take care of other things. For example, unpaid carers, and most unpaid carers are women, it means they can work from home, always carry out their duty of care and stay on the job.”

In any case, he warned: “If a woman works from home, it is expected that, in addition to her work, she will be the one who does the housework or taking care of the children. The working day becomes very fragmented.”

Prof Zamani said the research also suggested that working from home could have an impact on career progression.

“If the remote worker is not in the managers’ consciousness, it is easier to remove him for promotion,” he said.

Reynolds was speaking to The Times from Riyadh, where the UK is trying to seal a trade deal.

Speaking about his own experience as a lawyer who learns from senior colleagues, he said that there are clear benefits to being in the workplace: “I think there are times when it is absolutely necessary, it is legitimate to need the workforce in the office basically learn from the more experienced colleagues in the work.

He added: “The UK has very significant regional inequality. (offering the opportunity to work from home) could play a significant role in addressing this.

“Many businesses will say their motivation for being a workplace that offers this is because it opens up a much wider pool of talent that they can recruit.

Reynolds emphasized the importance of maintaining trial periods when a new employee starts a job. But he acknowledges that negotiations continue on the duration of these.

He said that “it was not fair” that some staff had to wait two years to acquire full rights, but he refused in the interview to suggest how long the trial period should be.

Deputy First Minister Angela Rayner held a meeting with unions and business representatives last month to discuss the proposals.

After the meeting, Tina McKenzie, policy chair at the Federation of Small Businesses, said it was “crucial” for the government to “try and reduce the damage to jobs, small businesses and the economy from any negative impact of these proposals”.

Jonathan Geldart, chief executive of the Institute of Directors, said “meaningful dialogue” would be vital to determine whether the proposals would “support or stifle economic growth”.