HMRC hybrid working made permanent: 40,000 staffers given new devices
HMRC has invested in nearly 40,000 laptops, tablets and phones in the last 12 months, and a total of 45,704 devices since October 2019, shortly before widespread remote working was introduced.
The data revealed that new devices had surged by 366 per cent this year, when compared to the same time period for last year – 8,080 in Oct-Sept 2020, to 37,624 in Oct-Sept 2021.
For comparison, HMRC only recorded an increase of 600 new devices in the period from October 2018 to September 2019, which was the 12 month period preceding the Covid-19 pandemic and mass remote working.
Mobile phones were by far the most popular device to be handed out to staffers – 27,000 for Oct-Sept 2021, compared to 6,800 for Oct-Sept 2020, which is a 297 per cent increase.
Tablets rose from just 580 in Oct-Sept 2020, to 9,924 in Oct-Sept 2021, which is a 1,611 per cent increase.
Finally, the laptop count increased by 700 in both Oct-Sept 2020, and 2021 – or, 1,400 in total since roughly the start of the pandemic.
This is according to new data retrieved via the Freedom of Information act, and analysed by a Parliament Street think tank, which observed the quantity of devices onboarded by the HMRC in a 12 month period, from October to September each year, dating back to 2018.
Sridhar Iyengar, managing director for Zoho Europe commented: “Remote working, whether full time, hybrid part time, or ‘choose your own’ work from home model, is becoming the operational structure of choice for many organisations and HMRC is no exception.”
“It’s good to see leaders are investing in more devices as time goes on. Remote working has cost, efficiency and time-saving perks that many organisations are already capitalising on, and once certain implementation challenges are overcome, business leaders will be presented with even more opportunities.”