The best (and worst) UK cities for hybrid working

London Ranked Worst for #HybridWorking 

With many leading businesses moving to a permanent hybrid model following the pandemic, it appears hybrid working is here to stay. Business energy provider Gazprom Energy has carried out some research that I believe would be of interest to your readers, distinguishing the best and worst UK cities for hybrid working.

Gazprom Energy ranked each major UK city on an index made up of six factors that contribute to successful hybrid working lifestyles: cost of living, wellbeing (avg. life satisfaction, happiness, and anxiety rating), commuting time (mins), average salary (£), average Internet Speed (mbps), and coffee shops per capita. By assigning a points-based criteria, an overall Hybrid Working Score out of 100 was calculated for each city to produce a full ranking from best to worst.

Key Findings: 

• London is the UK’s worst city for hybrid working (35/100), despite employers in the capital being among the first to instigate hybrid working and offering the most flexible policies.
• York is the best city for Hybrid working (64/100), helped along by a moderate cost of living, a respectable wellbeing standard and a lower average commute.
• Surprisingly, Hull and St Albans enjoy the highest average internet speeds (both 138 Mbps) in the country by far, helping employees to get the job done  – while those in Worcester (47 Mbps) and Exeter (50 Mbps) have to put up with the slowest internet speed.
• The worst commutes employees can expect when travelling between home and the office belong to London (avg. 66 min), Nottingham (41 min) and Leeds (40 min).
• In terms of regions, Yorkshire has the fastest average internet speed overall at 85 Mbps, followed closely by the East at 82 Mbps. Northern Ireland and Wales tie on being the regions with the slowest internet connections, at 61 Mbps.
• Regionally, Yorkshire is also the best part of the UK for hybrid workers, followed by the North West – with Wales and London being the worst.