The vast majority of employees want to work from home in some capacity post lockdown, but fewer than half of employers will allow it, our new survey has found.
The survey of over 1,200 US-based professionals, conducted by TechRadar Pro with SmartBrief, shows that there has been a seismic shift in attitudes towards hybrid working from both employers and employees.
Fewer than 15% of workers said they wanted to return to the office full time, 85% said they wanted to work from home at least one day a week, with more than 25% preferring to work from home permanently.
Employers attitudes to remote working
In spite of there being some change in attitude from employers towards remote working, fewer than half (38%) have offered staff an opportunity to work from home either on a permanent or part-time basis yet, with nearly 20% of employees expected to return to the office full time as lockdown lifts.
This attitude is reflected by the fact only a quarter of employers will be implementing ‘hot-desking’ as part of their return to the office strategy – a beneficial strategy if a company is looking to reduce office space with fewer staff coming into the office.
This is in spite of employees would be fine having their work and hours tracked with software.
Yet, there are plenty of companies who are embracing the ‘new normal’ of office work.
Google changed its stance on remote working after some pushback from its staff earlier in the year, while businesses such as HSBC, Salesforce, and Coinbase have all said they will provide more flexible working conditions in future, while 43 of the 50 biggest companies in the UK have said that employees won’t come into the office full-time, with a mix of remote and office working.
So is there an opportunity here for employers to scalp the best talent, if their flexible working policies match the aspirations of prospective staff?
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Read more about the results of this survey:
- How has Covid changed work? Our survey shows how the world has changed forever
- Over a quarter people report physical pain as a result of remote working
- Covid has changed the way we work – but are employers listening to what employees want?
