Almost half of the businesses in Scotland have a form of hybrid working in place, according to research.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) survey discovered that workers are spending at least one day a week at home.

Nearly one third (32.6%) of firms agreed that staff were in the office one to two days per week, while a further 16.5% were in three to four days a week. In Scotland 38.3% of workers do not work at home.

Almost half (49.1%) of staff are now hybrid working in Scotland which sits above the UK average of 42.7%.

The ONS data was gathered in the two weeks to August 21 and surveyed a total of 9,207 firms across the UK, 1,200 of which were based in Scotland.

Former MSP Gavin Brown, director of Edinburgh-based Speak With Impact, mused that the numbers indicated that working from home will be a long-term solution to a habit which developed as a result of the pandemic.

Brown said: “Unless you work every day in the office, or indeed every day at home, you are a hybrid worker. These figures show us that now accounts for about half of all workers in Scotland, and it illustrates just how drastically things have changed in a couple of years.

“This transformation in working and business environment must be adjusted to and holds a great deal of opportunity.

“But pitching, collaborating and performing in a hybrid world requires an entirely different set of skills which, prior to the Covid pandemic, almost nobody had.”

A study by workplace experts Acas in in June this year found a similar move by employers to adopt home working.

Data showed that more than half of Scottish employers had seen an increase in some form of hybrid working compared to before the pandemic.

The poll found that more than two-fifths of Scotland employers (43%) have seen an increase in staff working from home full-time.

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Further research later in June this year from the Home Office found that more than £44 million has been invested on over 65,000 electronic devices including laptops, smartphones during the boost in home working since the pandemic.

Brown added: “If Scottish businesses can excel in this hybrid world by maximising in-person and virtual opportunities in tandem, it could provide a real boost to our economy and to individual prospects generally.

“Other parts of the developed world are doing this now, and it’s essential Scotland and the wider UK does not get left behind.”

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