Millions of people worked from home during the pandemic. Employers realised at long last that it can be a great option. And the government has consulted on stronger flexible working rights, with promises of new legislation.

It’s all going great – right?

It should be. But the fight for fair flexibility at work is far from won. And Boris Johnson’s government is breaking its promises.

First the genuine good news. Homeworking and hybrid working as part of people’s regular working pattern has tripled since the pandemic. And while there are problems in some cases, lots of workers are embracing this opportunity and having positive experiences.

Many more employers are now convinced that homeworking works. The technology works. As unions have been saying for years, staff don’t slack – in fact overworking is the bigger worry, along with employers who fail to respect boundaries between work and home life.

But despite the step change in homeworking, new TUC analysis published today shows that there has been very little change in other types of flexible working.

The government order to work from home if you can is likely to be lifted on 21 June.

Some people will be itching to get back to their usual workplace. They may miss the social interaction. They may feel they can be more productive at their usual workstation. Or they may have found the last year hard because their home environment is not adequate as a shared space with family or housemates. New and younger workers, in particular, may have missed out on vital learning and development opportunities.

But many others will want to continue working from home for at least some of the time. Perhaps their employer had been sceptical in the past, but the last year has shown that workers can be trusted to work from home and can be just as productive.

There are good reasons to hope that the right kind of home working will be on the menu of flexible working in the future. Home working can be a positive way to help people better balance their home and work life, especially for parents, carers and older workers. It can also help disabled people who too often face barriers to entering the workplace.

Of course, the majority of workers are simply not able to do their jobs from home. And there is a risk that the benefits of positive flexibility only flow upwards to managerial and professional grades. For many other workers predictability is the priority, with set hours that allow carers to manage commitments, rather than the disruption of coping with different shift patterns day-to-day or week-to-week.

So as more workplaces reopen, employers should consider new working patterns that meet everybody’s needs. And they must properly consult on the policies to deliver them.

Home working, flexible hours and better transport infrastructure could all help to ease our commuting woes.

As autumn shades into winter and the nights become nippy, the thought of going to work becomes a real drag. Whether you are stuck in a traffic jam, freezing at the bus stop or crammed into a train or tube, this is the time of year when commuting becomes a thoroughly boring chore. Many of us will be leaving home in darkness and returning from work in the dark. Things are worse still when we have to battle rain, snow or perhaps even floods like those drenching parts of South Yorkshire. Why on earth do we still have to suffer this winter commuting misery?

Commuting is taking up more of our time

And it’s getting worse. Commuting times are steadily creeping up year on year. New TUC research shows that the average employee now takes nearly an hour a day (58.8 minutes) just getting to work and back. This has increased by 5.4 minutes since 2008. This adds up to an extra 20 hours each year, so it’s no wonder we’re getting fed up with the drudgery of commuting.