By far one of the most insightful reports into ways of working for Unified Communicators, Collaborators, Bosses, HR Professionals, Employees, Part-Timers, Meeting Attendees, Hybrid Workers and everyone in-between.
Owl Labs generously commissions The State of Hybrid Work report each year, and they’ve been doing it for the past 10 years. If you don’t want to read any further, here is the link to the 2026 report, released today.
If you want to know the top-line insights, here are mine:
- 24% of UK workers have one or more additional jobs. That means almost 1 in 4 of “us” are doing something part-time, or after working hours, or we’re multi-tasking during working hours. One could read more into this, such as why (factors such as pay, stimulation and obligations play a part – see the slide on the reasons given), but anyone with a side hustle needs great communication tools.
- If workers had the choice, 60% would choose to work hybrid, which speaks volumes about happiness, job satisfaction, work environments, and flexibility, or lack thereof when it comes to employers accomodating employee desires, and perhaps encouraging productivity.
- 41% of UK workers experience meeting fatigue – no surprise that one of the biggest gripes is “Meetings are too long” (54%), but what is of surprise is that 23% surveyed still complained of “Technical issues or delays”.
- Over 1 in 3 workers (39%) would take a 10% pay cut – or more – for flexible working hours. It has been proven time and again that happy employees are the most productive – they tend to work faster, convert more sales, take less sick days – the list goes on, so if there is just one take-away fact here – it’s that employees are still actively seeking flexible working hours AND they will take a pay cut to get it, that is how strong the desire is.
Additonally, the report explored the use of AI tools – pretty much all surveyed (86%) report using, or experimenting, with AI at work, although that seems quite high based on much research across the sectors on the subject in recent months, but the finding that is much in line with other research is that over 1 in 4 AI users (26%) admit to using AI tools not officially approved by their employer. Ahem.
Future of Work
There are a number of sections to the report, and it depends on what angle you’re seeking insight.
If you’re a numbers person – the Economics of Hybrid Work is well worth an exploration. It gives an insight into the costs employees say they face, and perhaps a sign of our time, “In the last 12 months, 63% of workers have gone into the office to save on home energy bills, with 58% of those workers being millennials.”
If you’re interested in the impact of AI in the workplace, then the section on “The AI Workplace Revolution” is a must read.
The section I look forward to, every year, which demonstrates just the neek I am, is the “Future of Work”. Yup, new words on the horizon here – microshifting, job hugging, unbossing and more, and pretty interesting to be working in 2026. I’ll go now, and let you read more.
Here is the link to the 2026 report, released today.
Thank You
Thank you, Frank.
(Frank Weishaupt is the CEO of Owl Labs, who signs off the commissioning of the Owl Labs State of Work report every year, and makes it freely available to all. Valuable insight indeed).
