Remote and hybrid working have reshaped how SMBs operate across the UK, changing expectations around productivity, collaboration, recruitment, and office space. While flexible working models are now firmly embedded in many organisations, businesses are still refining what the right balance looks like. At the same time, office space continues to play an important role, with many SMB leaders viewing it as valuable for collaboration, communication, onboarding, and maintaining stronger team connections.
To find out what 141,743 opinions of small to medium-sized business leaders in the UK were about remote and hybrid work, we utilised AI-driven audience profiling to synthesise insights from online discussions over 12 months, ending on May 18th, 2026, to a high statistical confidence level.
43% of SMB leaders’ organisations’ current working model is mostly remote, and they use an office once a month or less, and 9% are fully remote with no office; however, 35% are mostly office-based, with occasional remote work, and 13% are fully office-based with no remote work whatsoever
In-office and remote working models differ dramatically:
Before 2020, remote work was the exception and not the norm. Since then, working habits have shifted, but they’re not the same for everyone.
43% of SMB leaders in our audience organisations have a mostly remote model, with an office that’s used once a month or less. Only 9% are fully remote with no regular office presence. However, 35% are mostly office-based with remote work permitted, and 13% are fully office-based with no remote work.
These figures are almost the direct opposite of an April 2026 Statista report that showed that 43% of people in Great Britain travelled to work, implying they work in-office, while only 13% worked from home exclusively.
It’s clear that hybrid working is now the dominant model among SMB leaders, with most organisations blending remote work with in-office use rather than moving fully remote. It also reveals that in-office working is still largely given priority.
45% of SMB leaders’ organisations are currently transitioning to a remote or hybrid working model, 25% have had this model for 1-2 years, 5% for 3-4 years, and 26% have been operating remotely for 5 or more years
Working model transitions currently take the lead:
According to the UK government, in October 2025, nearly 30% of workers in Great Britain had some sort of hybrid arrangement with their employers, with a further 13% working 100% remotely.
This trend is reflected in our audience, who revealed that 45% of SMB leaders’ organisations are already transitioning to a remote or hybrid working model. Among those yet to make the change, 25% aim to do so within 1 to 2 years, while 4% expect the transition to take place within 3 to 4 years. A further 26% identified remote or hybrid working as a longer-term goal over the next 5 or more years.
These numbers indicate that while flexible working is already established across the UK, many SMB organisations still view the move towards remote and hybrid arrangements as an ongoing process rather than a completed change.
52% of hybrid or remote working models were shaped by employee demand, 11% by HR or People teams and 5% by senior leadership or founders, while 15% say it evolved organically, and the same number don’t yet have a formal policy
The drivers behind working policies differ somewhat:
In the first six months of 2025, 20% more United Kingdom jobseekers searched for remote work than in late 2024. This was 140% higher compared to the same period the year before, making it the strongest growth seen recently.
Against this backdrop of increased interest, our audience had different reported drivers behind remote and hybrid working policy decisions. 5% of SMB leaders identify employee demand as the main driver, 42% say it has a significant influence, and 5% describe it as a minor factor.
Our audience also mentioned evolving organically without a formal policy and having no formal policy currently in place as drivers of remote and hybrid working policy. For 8%, this is a minor factor, and 7% agree it is not a driver.
Elsewhere, 3% identified HR or people teams as the main driver, and 8% said they had a significant influence. Conversely, just 1% of senior leadership or founders were identified as the main driver, while a further 4% of SMB leaders described them as a minor factor, keeping them in the minority.
58% of SMB leaders maintain a hybrid or remote work model because it suits the nature of their work, 16% do so to increase productivity, 12% to save on office space costs, and 8% due to employee preference and retention
Reasons for maintaining hybrid or remote work models vary:
There are a range of reasons for allowing employees to work remotely or adopt a hybrid arrangement. For 11% of SMB leaders, remote or hybrid working suits the nature of their work, so it’s the main reason for maintaining this model. 43% describe it as a significant reason, and 4% identify it as a minor reason.
Improved productivity was also identified as a reason for continuing remote or hybrid working. 10% of our audience see it as the main reason, 4% agree it’s a significant reason, 2% as a minor reason, and just 1% say it’s not a reason. Those who agree that remote work improves productivity are backed by a King’s College London study that found productivity can increase by 10.5% when workers WFH or adopt a hybrid model.
Another 2% identified cost savings on office space as the main reason, 4% as a significant reason, and 6% as a minor reason. Employee preference and retention were also a factor, with 6% emphasising it as a significant reason and 2% as a minor one.
For a further 2%, access to a wider talent pool was the main reason, and 2% said it was a significant one. Lastly, business continuity and flexibility were the main reasons for just 1%, showing that while this was important, it was not an overarching priority.
9% of SMB leaders expect employees to be in the office 5 days a week, 41% 4 days a week, 19% 3 days, 30% 2 days a week, and 1% just 1 day a week
Expectations for in-office attendance are clear:
SMB leaders have different expectations for how many days employees typically spend in the office each week. However, there are clear trends favouring more days than fewer.
The largest share, at 41%, agrees that 4 days in the office is required. This is followed by 30% saying that 2 days in the office is the minimum, while 19% said employees are typically expected to be in the office for at least 3 days a week.
A further 9% have a fully office-based arrangement. At the other end of the scale, 1% have a 1-day-in-office week.
No SMB leaders had an approach in which office attendance varies by role or team, with this category garnering 0% of opinions.
14% of SMB leaders’ use of physical office space hasn’t changed since adopting hybrid or remote working models, but 20% agree there is some change, while 11% have seen a major shift, 13% have moved to a more flexible or co-working space, and 9% gave up their offices entirely
Changes in office use lead to more leaders seeking flexible office options:
Different approaches to physical office space have definitely emerged since the adoption of remote or hybrid working. The largest share of our audience’s organisations have not changed their use of office space, but are considering it. 14% see a major shift, and 20% are seeing some change.
Another group agreed they would keep the same office arrangement, but there had been varying degrees of change to the physical space. 11% were seeing a major shift, 6% some change, 10% minimal change, and 5% no change at all.
A small percentage have also moved to a flexible or co-working space. 13% said this was a major shift, 7% said there was some change, and 2% said there was minimal change.
Giving up a permanent office entirely was a major shift for 9%, and 4% didn’t find this a change at all.
These changes show that organisations are still adjusting their approach to office space rather than settling on one fixed model. Most are clearly keeping some form of physical office presence while rethinking how the space is used in response to hybrid and remote working.
58% of SMB leaders agree that office space, whether leased or flexible, isn’t very important to their business operations as they rarely use physical space; however, for 42%, this space is somewhat important as it’s useful but not critical
Leased or flexible office space holds varied importance for SMB leaders:
There are mixed views on the importance of office space for business operations, whether leased or flexible. Among SMB leaders in our audience, 58% said neither was very important to their business because they rarely use physical space, while 42% said it was somewhat important.
This shift aligns with broader market trends. According to IBISWorld, one of the key reasons SMBs choose serviced offices is the flexibility they offer. Shorter commitments and lower monthly costs make it easier for businesses to scale space up or down in response to changing needs, whether that involves team growth, evolving working patterns, or reducing underused space over time.
51% of SMB leaders rely most on video conferencing for remote or hybrid working, while just 2% say it’s not needed, 18% rely on cloud document sharing, and 6% don’t find it necessary, and 15% utilise cybersecurity of VPN tools
Technology plays an integral role in the remote or hybrid working model:
The video conferencing market is expected to grow by nearly $9 billion by 2029. This trend is reflected in our audience. 37% of SMB leaders view tools like Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet as absolutely essential for remote or hybrid work. 14% see them as very helpful, and only 2% as not needed.
8% viewed cloud document sharing tools like Google Drive and SharePoint as both absolutely essential or very helpful. Yet, 2% see them as somewhat useful and 6% as not needed.
Cybersecurity or VPN tools are considered absolutely essential by 9%, with 5% categorising them as very helpful, 1% as somewhat useful, and 3% as not needed.
Instant messaging options like Slack and Teams were viewed as either absolutely essential, very helpful, or somewhat useful by 1% each of SMB leaders, and no data was recorded for HR/people management platforms. This puts the ball firmly in video conferencing’s court as the tool the majority relies on.
45% of SMB leaders do not and have no plans to provide a working-from-home allowance or equipment stipend; however, 45% don’t currently offer this benefit but plan to introduce it, while 10% offer a financial allowance
Allowances and stipends are not the norm:
For many employees, business support for working at home is non-existent. 45% of our audience not only don’t provide an allowance or stipend, but they also have no plans to do so in the future. However, the exact same number (45%) state that while they currently do not do this, they do plan to implement it in the future. Only 10% said they currently make provision for a financial allowance for these workers, putting them in the minority.
These very even splits suggest SMB leaders may still be working out how remote working fits into longer-term business planning. While some appear to be treating home working as a standard part of operations and planning support accordingly, others may be balancing this against costs, existing equipment policies, or expectations around how often employees work remotely.
37% of SMB leaders facilitate team connection and collaboration with social in-person or virtual events, 23% do so with regular all-company or team meetings and 9% do so with project management teams, but 27% don’t have a structured approach to encouraging these interactions
Facilitating connection isn’t always planned for:
Virtual event platform demand forecasts in the United Kingdom are expected to reach US$1 billion in 2026 and continue to grow thereafter. By 2036, the market is tipped to hit US$5 billion, soaring at an astounding CAGR of 17.3%.
This evolution is driven by a permanent structural shift towards remote and hybrid working models, the digital transformation of marketing and corporate communications, and the unending search for inclusive, measurable, scalable engagement tactics.
In terms of how SMB leaders are currently facilitating team connection and collaboration, 37% of our audience have either in-person or virtual social events at the top of the list. While 27% don’t have a structured approach, 23% use regular or virtual all-company or team meetings, and 9% rely on project management tools.
In comparison, shared digital workspaces like Slack and Teams made up 2% of the overall approach, and just 1% are using in-person team days or off-sites to grow these connections.
65% of SMB leaders are not very confident they can maintain company culture in a remote or hybrid environment as their culture has already suffered and 35% have neutral feelings about this, as its challenge but they are managing
Maintaining company culture remotely is a challenge:
Maintaining company culture remains a difficult area for SMB leaders working across remote and hybrid environments. This is evident in the 65% of our audience who are not very confident in maintaining company culture and feel it has suffered during the transition.
Guidance on hybrid culture frequently states that businesses need to create connections intentionally rather than expecting workplace culture to develop organically across remote teams. As more organisations continue to work across remote and hybrid models, maintaining a sense of belonging and creating opportunities for shared values and regular interaction have become a stronger area of focus.
The remaining 35% took a more balanced view, describing company culture as a challenge they are managing. While this group did not indicate full confidence, they suggest that culture remains an active consideration as businesses continue to adapt to different ways of working.
40% of SMB leaders see a better work/life balance for staff as the biggest benefit of remote or hybrid working for their business while 38% see the ability to hire outside their local area as the biggest perk, and 17% see increased productivity as theirs, but 6% disagree that this is a benefit
Organisational benefits of remote or hybrid work are debatable:
There’s a range of benefits for SMB leaders in remote and hybrid working, with 10% saying the main advantage is better work-life balance for their staff, and 30% agreeing this is a significant benefit.
The ability to hire outside their local area was emphasised by 25% as the main advantage of remote or hybrid working. 7% agreed that this is a significant benefit, and 6% see it as a minor benefit only.
According to a study published in The Guardian, hybrid workers report being happier, healthier, and more productive, with nearly 70% getting better sleep and more than 50% being able to slot in more exercise. While these findings focus on employee experiences, our audience gives further insight into how SMB leaders view productivity in practice. 7% point to increased productivity as either the main advantage of remote and hybrid working or a significant benefit, while 3% describe it as a minor benefit, and 6% do not see it as a benefit at all.
The single greatest challenge for SMB leaders managing a remote or hybrid workforce is communication and collaboration for 56%, while onboarding new employees effectively is a significant challenge for 36%, just 6% cite monitoring performance and productivity as their greatest hurdle, while only 2% battle with maintaining team culture and connection
Some management challenges are more common than others:
When looking at the greatest challenges SMB leaders face in managing a remote or hybrid workforce, opinions are split. The biggest group overall finds that communication and collaboration across locations is the biggest hurdle for 6% , 37% concur that this is a significant challenge, while 13% find it a minor challenge.
Just over a third (36%) found that effectively onboarding new employees was a significant challenge, with 2% agreeing that monitoring performance and productivity is a significant one. 4% find the challenge only minor.
On the lower end of the scale, 2% of our audience agrees that maintaining team culture and connection is a significant challenge, pointing to the fact that maintaining team culture and connection is no longer seen as a major operational barrier for most SMB leaders. This likely reflects how effectively many organisations have already adapted their ways of working.
37% of SMB leaders don’t have a formal method for measuring employee productivity in a remote setup while 6% measure output and deliverables and 3% hours worked and 54% use a combination of these factors as metrics
Working metrics are not measured in the same way:
Metrics are an important part of running a smooth business, and employee productivity in remote and hybrid setups is one of the most important. Yet 37% of SMB leaders do not have a formal method in place to measure employee productivity, whereas 6% rely solely on output and deliverables. 3% focus on the number of hours worked or logged, and 54% use a combination of these methods to measure employee productivity.
Evidently, leaders may place greater value on evaluating employee performance from different angles rather than relying on a single measure, recognising that productivity can manifest in different ways across remote and hybrid environments.
36% of SMB leaders agree remote or hybrid working has decreased productivity in their organisation and 32% believe it has increased it, yet 17% have seen no noticeable change and 16% agree it’s too difficult to measure
Productivity levels are impacted to varying degrees:
The debate regarding the impact of remote work on productivity is ongoing. However, a recent PwC study revealed a 40% drop in UK workplace productivity due to remote work. This aligns with the 19% of our audience who have seen a significant decrease in productivity and the 17% who’ve experienced a slight decrease.
Only 16% of SMB leaders state that productivity has significantly improved since adopting a hybrid or remote working model, and 16% have seen a slight improvement.
Some of our audience (17%) is on the fence as they haven’t seen a noticeable change and 16% find this too difficult to measure. This ties in closely with the 37% above who don’t have a way of measuring the impact on productivity within their working models.
Overall, this reinforces the importance of having an office, even as a base for just a few days work a week. This ensures that leaders can manage productivity and that they have a baseline with which to measure it if the working model changes.
Remote or hybrid working has slightly improved SMB leaders ability to attract new talent and significantly improved it for 19%; however, it’s significantly hindered 13% and slightly hindered 19%, while 12% have seen no noticeable impact
The ability to offer remote or hybrid work hasn’t been a talent acquisition gamechanger:
Workplace flexibility is quickly becoming one of the most important factors people consider when looking for a new role, with studies showing that nearly two-thirds of workers would accept less remuneration for a better work-life balance.
For our audience, remote or hybrid working has largely had a positive effect on SMB leaders’ ability to attract new talent. For 37%, their ability to do so was slightly improved. For 19% of the participants, this has significantly improved their chances and has become a strong recruitment advantage.
But there are those who share different options, too. 18% of SMB leaders are slightly hindered in attracting new talent because some candidates still prefer in-office roles. For 13%, remote or hybrid working has significantly hindered their ability to attract new talent, but 12% said that there has been no noticeable impact, almost balancing it out.
Better tools or technology would help 74% of SMB leaders improve their remote or hybrid working model, an improved approach to employee wellbeing would improve 13%, more guidance on managing remote teams would help 9%, and clever policies and structure and stronger frameworks would help 3%
Better tech would be the biggest improvement for remote teams:
There’s still room for improvement in SMB leaders’ remote or hybrid working models. For 50% of our audience, better technology tools would help somewhat; 15% agree it would make a huge difference; and 9% acknowledge it might help a little.
Employee wellbeing came in as the next most valuable enhancement. 10% of SMB leaders believe an improved approach to employee wellbeing would help somewhat, and 3% that it would make a huge difference.
More guidance on managing remote teams was mentioned by 5% as being somewhat helpful, while 4% think this would make a huge difference. 2% said that clearer policies and structure would help somewhat, and less than 1% said that it would make a huge difference. Finally, 1% agree that stronger frameworks for performance management would help somewhat.
These figures reveal there’s some level of comfort with the foundations of the remote or hybrid working model. The focus now is on making practical improvements to what’s already in place.
97% of SMB leaders plan to increase in-office attendance in the next 12 months while just 3% plan to increase remote working further in the next year
The return-to-office pull is strong:
The return-to-office mandate is gaining momentum. Over the next 12 months, 97% of SMB leaders plan to increase in-office attendance, while just 3% expect to increase remote working further.
These results tell us that SMB leaders are looking to refine their current working models to create more opportunities for people to work in the office. How employees feel about the change will likely depend on their experience upon returning.
However, JLL’s 2025 Workforce Preference Barometer research found that more than 80% of employees who are currently happy with their workplace also have positive feelings about stricter office attendance policies. This indicates that businesses may have more success increasing office attendance if employees feel supported in the workplace.
79% of SMB leaders work in industries other than retail, construction, creative and marketing and education, while 19% work in retail and ecommerce, 1% in trades, and 1% in create and marketing
The majority of our audience falls into one business category:
While 19% of SMB leaders in our audience work for businesses that fall into the retail and e-commerce category and 1% into construction or trades and 1% into creative, media, or marketing, the majority (79%) work in other sectors. These sectors also exclude education or training, healthcare and wellbeing, technology and software or professional services such as legal, finance, or consulting.
This shows that our audience reflects a much broader cross-section of the SMB market, suggesting that issues such as hybrid working, workspace flexibility, productivity, and workforce management are affecting businesses across a wide range of sectors.
51% of SMB leaders organisations have between 1-10 employees, 39% between 51-100, and 9% between 11-25 employees
Employee numbers show clear trends:
The number of employees in a business tends to affect the working model, too, as businesses with smaller workforces have more options, especially for serviced office space.
SMB leaders in our audience were most commonly from organisations employing between 1 and 10 people, which accounted for 51%. Organisations with 51 to 100 employees represented the second largest group at 39%, while businesses employing between 11 and 25 people made up the remaining 9%.
This weighting toward smaller employers reflects the reality that small businesses make up a large part of the UK workforce. Government figures show that small businesses employ 13.1 million people, accounting for 47% of all private sector jobs. Medium-sized businesses employ a further 3.7 million people, meaning SMBs collectively support employment for millions of people across the country and remain a major part of the UK economy.
These opinions show that remote and hybrid working are clearly no longer temporary adjustments for SMBs. They’ve become established parts of how businesses operate, influencing everything from recruitment and productivity to collaboration and workplace culture. Yet while flexibility remains important, the findings also suggest that many SMB leaders still see significant value in maintaining a physical office presence.
Rather than disappearing entirely, the office is evolving into a more purposeful space for collaboration, onboarding, communication, and culture-building. As businesses continue refining their working models, many appear to be searching for a balance that combines the flexibility employees value with the structure and connection that in-person working can provide.
The growing focus on increasing office attendance also points to a wider recognition that physical workplaces still play an important role in supporting productivity, strengthening team relationships, and creating a stronger sense of belonging.
For SMB leaders, the challenge moving forward will not simply be choosing between remote or office-based work, but creating environments where both can work together effectively.
Sourced using Artios from an independent sample of 141,743 opinions of small to medium-sized business leaders in the UK across X, Quora, Reddit, Bluesky, TikTok, and Threads. Responses are collected within a 95% confidence interval and 5% margin of error. Results are derived from what people describe online and from opinions expressed, not from actual questions answered by people in the sample.
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