Mid-market employers are increasingly offering UK-based staff the option to work abroad for part of the year, provided tax and legal checks are in place. âWorkcations,â where employees choose to work remotely from another country for agreed-upon periods, are now firmly on the agenda.
According to Grant Thorntonâs survey of business leaders, 77% of companies now have a formal international remote-working policy, up from 59% two years ago. That shift mirrors the normalisation of hybrid and remote working for office roles and a stronger focus on work-life balance as a driver of retention.Â
Policies are not a free-for-all. Nearly all organisations with a policy (99%) allow overseas working only with approval or within strict parameters, up seven points since 2023, when the figure was 92%. Typical guardrails include capped days, approved countries, pre-travel declarations and clear tax guidance.
Compliance has moved up the priority list. Previously, workcations risked errors triggering local filings, penalties or inadvertent permanent-establishment exposure. In 2025, the share of businesses reporting this as a high risk has fallen to 2%, suggesting greater investment in monitoring tools, payroll controls, and cross-border advice and employee training.
The direction is clear: employees want flexibility, and employers are responding. Businesses looking to refresh their approach should document parameters, map tax and social security triggers by country, and set approval workflows. Done well, workcations can support attraction and retention without inviting compliance headaches.
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