The Office for National Statistics (ONS) Business Insights and Conditions Survey asked more than 1000 Scottish companies where their staff were based throughout the month of June.

It revealed 26% of people in firms with more than 250 workers in Scotland were “using a hybrid model of working”. That’s slightly higher than the UK figure of 25.3%.

In some sectors, like information and communication, nearly two-thirds of the workforce were spending part of the week in the office and part at their home.

The study analysed the responses of 8912 businesses across the UK, including 1140 in Scotland, of which 394 had more than 250 employees.

In addition to the quarter of staff working hybrid, a further 7.1% were working exclusively from home in large firms.

Public speaking experts, Edinburgh-based Speak With Impact, have spent the last two years training companies in how to excel in the hybrid world.

Director Gavin Brown, a former MSP and shadow finance secretary, said big businesses in Scotland would have to improve their communication skills within the hybrid world, particularly when it comes to pitching for new business and clients using hybrid presentations.

He said this latest report proved hybrid working which arrived as a consequence of the pandemic was here to stay.

Gavin Brown, director of Speak With Impact, said: “It’s been clear for some time that businesses across Scotland and the UK would adopt some degree of hybrid working. This report confirms it is now embedded in the workings of big business, and that will present challenges and opportunities.

“Here in Scotland, we need to prepare at all levels for change. That includes improving training when it comes to using virtual applications like Zoom properly, and some serious investment in technology too.

“That will allow Scottish businesses to embrace hybrid on a global scale and start pitching for business from the rest of the world.

“If we get this right, it will boost the economy, increase high-quality employment opportunities and open up to the world to businesses who previously operated mainly within these shores.”