Hybrid working to become norm as more people return to the office

Photo: Depositphotos.com
Photo: Depositphotos.com

Hybrid working – a combination of being on the spot and working from home – is set to become the norm at large companies, local councils and government departments, NU.nl has found.

The news platform contacted a number of the Netherlands’ biggest employers to find out how they are planning to deal with shifts in working patterns, once coronavirus is fully under control.

A spokesman for the Rabobank, which employs some 26,000 staff said it is impossible to tell how many days a week will be spent homeworking. ‘It could be 10% of the time or 90. It all depends on the kind of work’ the spokesman said.

KPN, which has welcomed back staff for one day a week, said it will introduce hybrid working for its 8,000 strong staff from September while insurer NN, with 10,000 staff, said the norm is likely to be an average two days at the office.

The new way of working will be reflected in the new CAOs or a collective labour agreements. Upcoming agreements for local councils, for example, are likely to adopt recommendations by family spending institute Nibud which said €2 per day would offset the cost of working from home, local authorities association VNG said.

National government civil servants and Eneco workers already have a home working-related package.

The VNG also said the demand for office space is likely to drop.

According to recent figures from health institute RIVM, some 73% of people still worked from home as much as they could in January but that had gone down to 66% in mid May, despite a government call to continue the practice until at least the end of the summer.

‘I think that at the moment people are fed up with staying at home,’ Jacco Vonhof  of small firms association MKB Nederland told broadcaster NOS. ‘But we do tell people to please keep working from home if at all possible. The government recommendation is there for a reason.’

Commute

A survey by RTLZ last month found that over half of Dutch employers expect working from home will remain part of the job, combined with two or three days at the office.

This would be welcomed by at least half of the workers who have been operating from home during the coronavirus crisis, according to earlier surveys by Intermediair and job seekers site Nationale Vacaturebank.

Among the advantages most cited by workers were the lack of the daily commute, being better able to concentrate at home, and the opportunity to work according to their own timetable.

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