Press Release
All change for UK’s work patterns: Hybrid working and a move away from 9-5 hours sees mid-sized business embracing flexible models in a bid to boost productivity
21 Oct 2025
- New research shows business leaders are aware of the benefits but worried by their managers’ lack of skills to oversee teams effectively
New data from leading financial and business adviser Grant Thornton UK reveals that hybrid and remote working patterns amongst the UK mid-sized businesses are widely perceived as productivity enhancers.
Despite this, a lack of skills within businesses to manage remote teams effectively could mean businesses aren’t realising the gains such working patterns offer.
A striking 80% of respondents also say that their organisations are shifting away from the traditional 9–5 office-based model in favour of more agile, hybrid approaches.
However, the data also highlights a growing concern around the skills needed to manage remote teams effectively. Skills for managing remote teams ranked as the second most cited skills gap (18.22%), just behind leadership skills (18.64%), in terms of factors impacting business growth.
The findings, drawn from Grant Thornton’s September 2025 Business Outlook Tracker*, show that 79% of businesses agree remote working has positively impacted productivity, with 78% saying the same for hybrid working.
The Business Outlook Tracker is Grant Thornton’s rolling survey of 600 business leaders* across the UK, designed to capture evolving market sentiment and explore the key issues shaping the business landscape.
Ruth Walsh, Partner and Head of Talent Solutions at Grant Thornton UK, commented:
“The shift to hybrid working is clearly delivering productivity benefits, but it’s also exposing a critical need for new skill sets. Businesses are recognising this and responding; with internal training programmes for managing remote and hybrid teams now more prevalent than those for traditional skills like financial or communication capabilities. As hybrid working appears to have become an embedded way of working in many organisations, investing in leadership and remote management skills will be key to sustaining productivity gains.”
Encouragingly, 79% of businesses already have internal training programmes in place to address this need - a higher rate than those offering training in financial skills (78.75%) or communication skills (73.26%).
Richard Waite, People and Culture Director and Head of Talent and Recruitment at Grant Thornton UK, added:
“Employees value the flexibility hybrid working offers and the ability to better balance professional and personal commitments. In turn, many businesses have seen a boost to wellbeing and productivity. But the need for in-person interaction hasn’t disappeared - activities like training, mentoring and collaboration still benefit from face-to-face engagement. Finding the right balance is essential to ensure both business needs and employee expectations are met.
“These insights tie into the UK’s broader productivity challenge, as highlighted in Grant Thornton’s earlier research on medium-sized firms, which found that while these businesses are among the most productive, they are often held back by limited investment capacity and staff burnout.
“As businesses continue to evolve their working models, aligning workforce development with emerging needs will be critical to unlocking long-term growth and resilience.
“However, this shift also creates a healthy tension: while employees increasingly expect to benefit from flexible, hybrid arrangements, employers must ensure they have the leadership and management capabilities to support these models effectively. Without the right skills in place, the very flexibility that drives productivity could risk creating new operational and cultural challenges.”
*The Business Outlook Tracker: Censuswide on behalf of Grant Thornton UK surveyed 600 UK mid-market business leaders (revenue £50m to £1bn) in September 2025.
