Remote working practices peaked at just over 18% in early January 2026, according to data from Indeed. That is the highest they have ever been, before falling back to 16.3% by the end of August. Looking at those numbers in isolation, it is easy to think that one of the biggest shifts in working practices in recent history may have lost its momentum, but this statistic on its own does not tell the whole story.
In reality, remote opportunities remain around 474% higher than at the beginning of 2019. Prior to the pandemic, just 2.84% of UK job postings included remote working. Against that baseline, August’s 16.3% looks much more significant, suggesting the UK labour market is unlikely to return to its pre-pandemic working patterns.
A revolution in remote working
The global pandemic brought about a major change in working habits. Social distancing and lockdowns led to an unprecedented expansion in remote working, with the share of UK job postings mentioning remote working increasing from 2.84% in 2019 to 4.16% in March 2020. It reached 11.42% by the start of 2021, and growth continued well after the initial lockdown period.
Remote working continued to feature in a growing share of job postings over the following five years, reaching a peak of 18.01%. Although the proportion has since fallen, it remains high. This longer-term pattern suggests that remote working is likely to remain a significant feature of the UK labour market.
Rather than the recent dip suggesting that employers are abandoning remote working wholesale, it may reflect a more mature market in which remote working is simply no longer expanding at pandemic-era rates.
It may also reflect the fact that employers have different definitions for “remote work”. For some, it means working entirely from home. For others, it means coming into the office once or twice a week, or having greater control over working hours. Employers may simply be adjusting the balance between fully remote and hybrid roles.
“The numbers suggest that the most durable shift may be towards giving people greater control over where, when and how work fits into their lives.”
Matt Burney, Senior Strategic Advisor at Indeed
Flexibility is playing an increasingly important role
At the same time, the data suggests flexibility is becoming part of a wider shift in employment expectations. Mentions of work-life balance in UK job adverts are on the rise, from 2.13% in January 2019 to 7.16% in August 2026 – up 236%.
Once again, this appears to be a sustained trend rather than simply a blip caused by the pandemic. The increase has been gradual and persistent over the past six years, with mentions of work-life balance continuing to rise long after lockdown restrictions ended.
A rise in workplace benefits
The data also suggests that the benefits being advertised by employers are evolving. Some traditional benefits naturally remain largely unchanged, such as company pensions at 36.63% in 2026 – up slightly from 35.09% five years ago – but others have changed a lot more dramatically.
Mentions of employee assistance programmes, private medical insurance and gym memberships have all increased, potentially reflecting employers’ efforts to attract talent and respond to expectations around employee wellbeing.
Private medical insurance has increased by around 46% over the past five years, while discounted gym memberships have increased by 90%. These statistics may indicate that employers are responding to broader expectations around wellbeing.
A shift in mental health roles
Not all trends have followed the same pattern, however. The data shows an increase in mental health vacancies throughout the pandemic – with numbers more than tripling from 0.46% of UK postings in January 2019 to 1.48% in May 2020. Mental health positions have since declined from their post-pandemic high, settling back at around 0.62% of job vacancies in July 2026.
This does not necessarily mean that demand or need has disappeared, but it does indicate that recruitment appears to be shifting away from exceptional pandemic-era levels.
Taken together, the figures suggest a process of selective normalisation rather than a wholesale return to pre-pandemic working patterns. Remote opportunities have eased from their early-2026 peak but remain far above their 2019 level, while work-life balance and flexibility have become much more prominent features of the employment offer.
Employers should therefore be clear about what flexibility means in practice and whether that means fully remote working, hybrid arrangements, flexible hours or occasional office attendance.
The numbers suggest that the most durable shift may be towards giving people greater control over where, when and how work fits into their lives, and employers who respond to that will be best placed to attract the best candidates.
Methodology
Source: Indeed Hiring Lab
This analysis uses Indeed Hiring Lab data on UK job postings between January 2019 and August 2026, examining trends in mental health roles, references to work-life balance and advertised employee benefits.
Mental health roles were identified using relevant job titles and keywords, while work-life balance was measured through mentions in job descriptions.
The benefits analysis compares the share of job postings across Great Britain advertising specific employee benefits in August 2021 and August 2026. It includes adverts from employers’ recruitment feeds and other job boards, but excludes jobs posted directly on Indeed. Each job posting was counted once, and only benefits appearing in at least 1% of adverts in either year were included. Benefits showing changes of more than 200% were excluded.
All analyses use Indeed Hiring Lab’s standard job posting filters. The monthly figures are not seasonally adjusted, and all data was extracted in September 2026.
About the author
Matt Burney
Senior Strategic Advisor at Indeed
