• Swindon & Wiltshire Professional services
• Wednesday April 23 2025

South West businesses want more office time despite hybrid working productivity boost – survey

The vast majority of businesses in the South West believe that adopting a hybrid working approach has boosted worker productivity and wellbeing, yet many are still keen for their people to spend more time in the office than they do currently.

The latest Business Outlook Tracker from Grant Thornton surveyed 49 mid-sized businesses across the South West region who are currently adopting a hybrid working approach.

Of these, the majority believe that the approach is adding significant value to their business and their people, including:

• 78 per cent believe that it has boosted their people’s productivity
• 69 per cent believe that it has positively impacted their people’s wellbeing
• 84 per cent believe that their people prefer a hybrid working approach
• 82 per cent believe that hybrid working is beneficial for their business

But despite these benefits, the majority (80 per cent) of respondents are still keen that their people spend more time in the office.

This may be due to a recognition that in-person interactions can often be more beneficial for specific activities
– 67 per cent of the businesses who are currently adopting a hybrid approach say that it is impacting their ability to provide adequate support and development for younger or trainee employees.

Lauren Carlyle, practice leader for Grant Thornton in the South West, said: “The right balance between remote flexibility and meaningful face-to-face collaboration remains central to business success across the South West.

“While digital connectivity enables productive distance work, organisations have learnt that in-person interactions – particularly for mentoring younger team members – create value that simply cannot be replicated virtually.”