King's College London

Dr Cevat Giray Aksoy appeared before the Select Committee on Home-based Working in the UK on 17 March to share the findings of his research on the changing nature of work across the world post the COVID19 pandemic.

Dr Aksoy, an Associate Professor of Economics with the Department of Political Economy at King’s, also answered a range questions from committee members, including on the situation in the UK compared to other advanced economies.

Dr Aksoy’s key messages to the committee included:

• Employees highly value the option to work remotely. This preference holds true across both developed and developing countries.
• Productivity and well-being impacts differ substantially between hybrid and fully remote arrangements. Recognising this distinction is essential for informed policy-making.
• There's no universal hybrid work policy; optimal arrangements depend on industry, job nature, and team responsibilities. Coordinating remote and in-person days at the team level can boost productivity and learning by dedicating office days to collaboration and remote days to individual tasks.
• Expanding remote work opportunities has notably broadened workforce participation, making employment accessible to a wider and more diverse group of individuals.

As part of his research, Dr Aksoy has gathered data on home working from 40 countries and examined the changes in where people live, where employers are based, people’s fertility preferences and perceived productivity levels. In 2024, Dr Aksoy was awarded a grant by International Growth Centre to support research on remote work.

Dr Aksoy is also a senior research economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London.

You can watch the committee hearing in full here.