New analysis has revealed that only 2.9% of new jobs in HR are fully remote, despite thousands of Brits searching for remote-based roles amid growing pressure to return to the office.
By examining flexibility within new job roles for UK employees in 2025, the ‘Remote-friendly Industries Study’ by sharetech platform Vestd has discovered that remote work is unevenly available across industries, and that employers risk losing talent if they ignore what their workers want.
The data highlighted that out of the 2,241 new job listings available, only 2.9% were listed as fully remote in the HR sector, reflecting a noticeable difference between available roles and stated preferences for remote work.
HR emerged as one of the least remote-working friendly sectors, with 2.9% of remote jobs – falling below the national industry average of 4.75%. In fact, out of the 113,874 new job listings available across the 29 analysed industries, only 5,404 (5%) were listed as fully remote positions.
Remote working has faced increasing scrutiny in recent years, with many companies ordering staff back to the office. However, the research found that a mass push back to offices is at odds with workers’ expectations, with Google Trends highlighting 91,000 searches for ‘UK remote jobs’ in comparison to ‘Office jobs UK’ (at 21,000) over the last year.
With an estimated 23.2 million Brits already reported to be working from home at least part-time, the return to office mandate is sparking fears that employees may quit in favour of more flexibility.
This comes as a recent survey from Vestd found that flexibility is the second most important factor for jobseekers, with around one in six respondents saying that a lack of flexible options negatively impacts their work-life balance.
Ifty Nasir, founder and CEO of Vestd, commented on the findings: “The research from our ‘Remote-friendly Industries Study’ shows a clear divide in job desirability within the market, with employees wanting more flexibility and freedom in their roles, while big organisations demand a somewhat ‘grand’ return to face-to-face office working.
“Those employers who take remote work seriously are gaining a real advantage. They can attract and keep hard-working staff by building teams based on collaborative and supportive work.
“On the other hand, organisations that ignore what their employees want only risk losing talent to competitors who will instead be offering the flexibility which many workers are now expecting.
“Remote working isn’t just a nice-to-have anymore – it’s becoming essential for people’s work-life balance and overall wellbeing.
“Giving people the freedom to work how and where they perform will help to benefit everyone. Adapting to employees’ needs doesn’t just support wellbeing – it plays a key role in improving productivity and retaining skilled people.”
Empower Up has some advice on creating a flexible working environment here.
