Return to office mandates “unhelpful”

Research undertaken by Occupational Health Assessment Ltd reveals how Human Resources (HR) professionals feel about some of the key UK employment issues of early 2025.

Return to office issues

Chief amongst HR concerns was the issue of return to office mandates.  In recent weeks several high-profile UK business leaders have followed the lead of Donald Trump in America by calling for a full return to the office after years of home working.  Indeed, Lord Rose (the former head of Marks & Spencer & Asda), went as far as suggesting that home workers were “not doing proper work” on the BBC’s Panorama programme in January.

Yet HR appear far from convinced that return to office mandates are a positive step.  Almost two thirds (63%) of Human Resources experts indicated that the drive to return UK employees to a 5-day office week would be either unhelpful (38%) or very unhelpful (25%) from a HR perspective.  This compares to more than 1 in every 10 respondents (12%) who thought the return to office policy would be beneficial, and 23% who were not concerned by this issue.

Potential problems

Steve Herbert, Brand Ambassador at Occupational Health Assessment Ltd, commented on these findings;

“Some large American employers – including those with a significant employment footprint here in the UK – have been seeking to enforce return to office mandates in the USA.  It seems likely that at least some UK employers will follow suit because they have a US parent company or they believe this is a necessary decision for business success.

Yet the potential complications of such an approach are many and varied.  Workforce issues that may need to be addressed include loss of work-life balance, damage to employee financial and mental health, a reduction in recruitment and retention appeal, and even the potential for discrimination issues if the mandates are not carefully considered.  These are all challenges that might ultimately end up in the HR in-tray, potentially making an already complex job even more challenging.”

Employment costs & rights

The survey also found that more than two-thirds of employers may be scaling back their 2025 recruitment plans in response to the increases in National Living Wage and Employer’s National Insurance contributions from April.  These changes are set to increase employment costs by, on average, 2.5% per employee, with much higher increases for low earners and part-time workers. These extra costs – combined with the planned improvements to employment rights under the government’s “Making Work Pay” agenda – are proving problematical for employers.

The Occupational Health Assessment Ltd research indicates that these challenges are forcing many UK businesses to reconsider their 2025 recruiting strategy.  Exactly half of all respondents are making minor tweaks to their hiring expectations in the coming year, with a further 17% having to make major changes to their recruitment plans.  That said, almost a quarter of employers (23%) are continuing to recruit as per previous planning, with 3% actively extending their recruitment intake in the current year.

Pre-employment health checks

The increase to employment costs and rights has seemingly also sparked a greater level of caution around hiring new recruits.  The survey found that nearly half (47%) of all employers were seeking to take a slightly more (33%) or much more (14%) cautious approach before making a final job offer.

Magnus Kauders, Managing Director of Occupational Health Assessment Ltd, commented;

“The increase in employment costs, potentially enhanced employment rights and the economic uncertainty at the start of 2025 has led many more employers toward a more cautious approach to recruitment.  The need to get recruitment right first time, every time, is clearly a key focus for so many employers in this difficult environment.

If follows that we expect to see more employers embracing pre-employment health-checks and expert occupational health assessments in the year ahead.”

The anonymous survey was undertaken on Tuesday 21^st January as part of the quarterly Occupational Health Assessment Employment Webinars series.  145 senior HR, Finance, and C-suite professionals responded representing employers in the Private, Public, and Third Sector.