The vast majority of respondents to a Press Gazette survey on remote working in news media, from chief executives down to reporters, favour a hybrid approach – with two or three days office-based per week.
But we also heard passionate views on both sides of a complex debate. Some employers and employees hate remote working. For others more flexible working arrangements have become essential to both personal happiness and business success.
It appears to be common ground that from a diversity, recruitment and retention point of view, remote or hybrid working is the best option for companies.
Most staff also see flexible or home-working as a benefit. But some who are forced to work from home (which can mean a bedroom in a shared house for those on lower incomes) miss having a proper office to work out of.
Most media CEOs favour hybrid approach
Of the 25 chief executive/owner/MD level respondents to our survey, 19 said they thought hybrid or flexible working was the best model for their company. Two favoured a full return to the office and three favoured fully remote working.
A UK national newsbrand chief executive who works three days a week in the office said: “I believe our balance of 50% is the right balance.
“Not all employees see it this way, though… it’s a tough sell from management to convince people to come in even half the time. For many staff, particularly those that started in the last five years, their points of reference are different to the management team setting the rules.”
A local media chief executive based in the US who works five days in the office said: “We’ve been very flexible, and plan to remain so. Our expectation for hybrid employees is two days per week in the office, but it’s encouraged, not required. In an ideal world, it would happen, and there’d be more mingling of people in different disciplines. But we’ve been very successful working this way.”
A UK-based B2B publishing chief executive said: “Being together is a crucial part of an effective business in most cases but people want flexibility and some agency to manage their work as efficiently as possible. No one size will ever fit all but a balance is I believe the best way.”
Among the chief executives who favour a return to the office was a UK-based B2B publishing boss who said: “I believe in the value of offices (and by extension, cities) and encourage colleagues to see the office as their centre of gravity. Certain tasks and certain situations (e.g. waiting for a plumber, a sick child) lend themselves to remote working. And if you are infectious but not incapacitated it is better to work from home. We hire new staff on the basis that the majority of their work is done in the office.”
Another UK news media chief executive said: “Whilst I have supported our current position of four office days, I do think organisations are better served by the creativity and productivity of being in the office full time. Answering the door to Royal Mail and preparing dinner are not things we should be doing whilst being paid by our employers.”
‘Work from home results in stagnation’
The chief executive of a UK-based news agency was one of the few survey respondents to utterly condemn remote working. They said: “Work from home results in stagnation. People who work from home have a single major motivation: maintaining their work-from-home status.
“Companies are built on collective organisations of people working together – WFH [work from home] is about individuals doing the minimum to maintain a personal revenue stream.”
But a publishing chief executive who works fully remotely was one of many survey respondents to point out the recruitment benefits of a more flexible approach. They said: “Remote working opens up a country full of talent, not just those who can physically get to your office. It maximises everyone’s time with their family – at no cost to the business – and saves overheads for the company.”
The 12 Press Gazette survey respondents working in commercial/sales roles all favoured hybrid or remote working.
One Europe-based B2B commercial executive said: “There is no right balance but a mixed economy between talent retention and company performance. Hybrid with mandatory days together per team or departments sounds like a working model.”
[Read more, from 2023: Fleet Street bosses battle to revive newsroom spirit in the age of flexible working]
Strong views on both sides from journalists in work-from-home debate
Among the 82 journalists responding to our survey, only ten favoured fully office-based working. Nine backed fully remote working and the remaining 63 respondents said their preference was hybrid/flexible working with time spent in the office as required.
Among those backing full-time office working was a UK national newspaper journalist who said: “As much as it feels like an effort, being in the office with colleagues makes it easier to do our job. We need to be able to communicate properly and chat/Zoom/Slack just isn’t the same.”
A journalist at a UK political magazine was more forthright on what they saw as the need to return to the newsroom. They said: “I find it absolutely staggering that anyone serious about this industry would want to work from home even a day a week. I can think of almost no other ‘non-manual’ job where learning and conversing with your colleagues is more important for success.
“It’s upsetting that other publishers encourage younger staff to work from home. It will lead to total skills death and network breakdown in an industry already facing huge challenges. I would call for any publishing company to encourage/demand full office-based working at least for editorial.”
One UK local newspaper journalist said they wished their colleagues were in the office more often: “The traditional feel of a newsroom has been lost, along with associated benefits.”
Another local newspaper journalist said they wished they had a proper office to work in: “Currently we are expected to work from home and once a week can go to a room borrowed from a university which is entirely unsuitable for our needs. The rented office space we had pre-pandemic was set up for the reporters and advertising.
“It was shut down completely during the pandemic as part of the cost-cutting exercise. Much later, after the pandemic, we were able to use another office space in the city centre, which was set up for our needs, but we were restricted the amount of times a week we could use it as individual reporters.
“A couple of years ago it was also done away with and we were informed we would be working from home constantly, but a room, out of the city centre and with no equipment other than a table and a seat, was available one day a week. It’s about five metres by five metres. No phones, no screens, no kitchen. Appalling acoustics and everyone sits facing the wall.”
‘Painful hyrid meetings… isolated staff’
A UK national newspaper journalist said: “Oh my God I hate hybrid working. I work in a national newsroom with a notional three-days-in-the-office policy, but many many colleagues find ways not to come in three times a week.
“The newsroom is half-empty, we have painful hybrid meetings, and then staff wonder why there is no official social culture and why they feel so isolated. In my view we should get people back to work four or five days. “
In-office meetings ‘hamper real work’
But a journalist at one specialist B2B publisher who favours fully remote working said: “My company is brilliant at this and expects us to deliver a quality product on time without the one to ones, check-ins and other stuff that hamper real work.”
Another local newspaper journalist who works mainly remotely said: “I miss the office banter but there are far fewer distractions working from home and I get much more done.”
Among those to favour a hybrid working model was a UK national news media journalist who said: “Journalism should be about working in a field and working remotely, not being glued behind a screen in an office.” Another UK national news website journalist echoed this view saying: “Remote working used to be known as going out on a job – which is always a good thing.”
A local media journalist who favours hybrid working said: “Working from home made it possible for me to move outside of London, where I’m from, to a nicer and cheaper part of the country. It’s significantly improved my quality of life beyond work.”
A journalist on a specialist UK weekly newspaper said hybrid working works well for them, with office time focused around the time leading up to press day: “Nothing can replace the fizz and spark of face-to-face editorial meetings.”
Hybrid model ‘enabled my career as a woman’, allows people outside London access to the industry
A journalist who thought their B2B publishing company had got the balance right said: “Our hybrid model is built on trust and, as a consequence, autonomous working. Remote working days are far more productive for getting operational work done whereas office days are good for team-building, brainstorming and more creative team-based work.
“Our office space has reduced due to the success of hybrid working which does mean as a manager one-to-one meetings and confidential matters are best handled from home. We regularly survey staff on their views on this approach to working which has wide support. We try to do more in-office days with new team members.”
One B2B journalist said the main benefit of remote working was allowing anyone in the UK to work for mainly London-based media outlets.
A national newspaper journalist who favours a hybrid approach said: “Generally, workers who don’t feel in control of their working lives are less happy and more likely to leave, so having the ability to pick up/drop off children, be around for a delivery or schedule something before or after work is really important for any organisation that doesn’t have an endless supply of people willing to step into a vacancy.”
A UK-based B2B journalist said: “I think if you purely consider it from an efficacy perspective, then office is the way forward. Once you start considering staff morale and quality of life then hybrid is the answer. We are losing as much as we are gaining – but there is no way to go back to the old ways without major upheaval.”
A UK-based magazine journalist said: “I definitely think the balance is right working two days in the office. I find I get more work done at home as it is a lot quieter and can focus more as not having to listen to people constantly talking about personal things for hours on end.
“I go into the office for meetings that require face-to-face and to catch up with work colleagues to help or give advice on work issues I have.”
Another UK-based B2B editor said: “I wouldn’t be able to juggle my busy editor role with parenting if it weren’t for hybrid working. Especially as my husband now has to be in the office three days a week. Hybrid working has enabled my career as a woman.”
‘Remote-working hindered my growth and learning’
A reporter at UK-based regional publisher Newsquest said: “I used to work for Reach PLC – 100% working from home – I definitely think it hindered my growth and learning not being around other reporters in the newsroom. My professional growth and mental health are much better now that I work in an office. We are 100% office-based. It would be nice to have more flexibility but it is so much easier to work as a team when we are in person.”
[Read more, from 2021: Reach closes most of its newsrooms as Mail Online staff return to office]
Tech and product staff favour hybrid approach
All 12 of those survey respondents working in product, operations and technology roles who filled out our survey said they favour hybrid working.
A US-based product/operations executive said: “I believe New York Times has it right with a blanket three days in the office policy. I previously worked at FT and they had three days for editorial staff, two days for everyone else – that also works. Given the nature of editorial work, a greater requirement for days in office compared to other staff does make sense and is sensible.
“Overall though, my thoughts can be summed up as: leave it up to the people, where possible. If you’ve got talented, high-performing staff (like NYT/FT does), they can manage themselves. If a workforce isn’t so performant, then closer monitoring can be warranted or may even be necessary.”
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