When Sophie’s bosses promised a working policy that guaranteed continued hybrid working after the pandemic, she knew it was the perfect time to start a family. Then, with one back-to-office mandate, everything changed.
“We started a family, but then came an announcement from the Cabinet Office in November 2023 that they were mandating to go back to the office, and overnight everything changed,” says Sophie*, a statistician who works for the Office of National Statistics (ONS) and member of Public and Commercial Services Union.
“From having maximum flexibility over where we work to being mandated back to the office was a massive shock. The mandates are variable, but for me personally, I’m expected to attend the office for 40% of my time,” she tells GLAMOUR. “It’s hugely impacted my wellbeing. The reduction in working flexibility coupled with the cost of childcare and transport means we cannot afford to have a second child – we are living month to month as it is. The childcare options are minimal, and we both already had to go part-time to make the childcare work.”
It was still working in hybrid, so the ONS was entitled to make the change, but the financial impact on the family was huge.
A spokesperson for the Office for National Statistics said:
“Our hybrid working model was introduced under a Civil Service-wide agreement on office attendance. It has been implemented flexibly, recognising the individual needs of staff members where these are brought to our attention.
“We still believe firmly that a reasonable level of office attendance – in line with the wider Civil Service – is in the best interests of the ONS and all our colleagues. Face-to-face interaction helps people to build working relationships and supports collaboration, innovation and skills development.”
Since the COVID pandemic proved the effectiveness of remote work, flexible working has enjoyed a long stint of success, allowing workers more freedom to fit their careers around their lives. Despite years of productive remote, hybrid, and flexible working, numerous companies and public services are implementing back-to-office mandates, transforming people’s lives, sometimes overnight, to return to the “traditional” way of working.
Women often face the consequences of these changes without much assistance from their workplaces. With women usually taking on the primary caregiver roles in families, facing higher rates of chronic illness, and being more likely to get denied flexible working, could back-to-office mandates worsen existing gender inequalities in the workplace?
The most apparent impact of return-to-office mandates on women is childcare, with women, on average, doing twice the amount of unpaid childcare compared to men. Like Sophie, writer and editor Kristin Herman found that a return to office mandate stripped her of the flexibility hybrid working had provided. “Childcare services do not match the standard nine-to-five schedule; it was hard,” she tells GLAMOUR. “Last-minute issues, like a sick child, became tougher. I relied on family, but constant schedule changes added stress. It meant less time with my kids, too.”
With “air cover” provided by workplaces, Ann-Marie Kindlock, the founder of KINDHAUS, a parent-first coworking space and creche, says she “can change the world,” but not enough companies offer flexibility and cover for family emergencies or childcare issues, often expecting parents to figure it out independently.
Ann-Marie fears many women will be forced out of the workplace if back-to-office mandates take over. “Flexible work is critical for modern parents, especially in this childcare crisis. In black-and-white terms, you’re saying, ‘You won’t get these promotions and pay raises if you don’t comply.’ Women are already leaving the workforce in droves, with 56% leaving within the first three years or having to reduce their hours to part-time. I feel like the implications of these mandates will weigh heavily on gender equality and gender pay gap progress.”
