New Ericsson research has highlighted the growing desire of many employees for a hybrid working setup alongside companies’ apparent reluctance, or inability, to adapt.
The company’s Future of Work Life report covers the responses of 38,000 employees and a further 3,600 decision-makers from 2022 across 30 global markets, making it one of the largest scale current studies of its type.
It found that the majority (58%) of workers say flexibility in terms of hours or locations are key requirements when it comes to looking for a new job, with a quarter (25%) ranking it as their top priority.
The future of hybrid work
Despite the huge trend toward hybrid working patterns, employers have struggled to adapt leaving as many as four in 10 workers struggling with the wrong tools for their tasks.
To make matters worse, Ericsson says that only one-third (33%) of employers consider employee preferences when investing in new technology, despite the growing emphasis on workers’ voices and the huge developments in technologies like artificial intelligence that are fundamentally set to change how we work.
Looking to the future, Ericsson’s head of IndustryLab, Anders Erlandsson, said: “it is quite clear that the future of work is going to be increasingly dependent on ICT solutions such as high-speed, globally available mobile connectivity.”
The report also indicated five employee paths that are expected to shape the future of work, giving diligent companies a headstart as they prepare to attract and retain talent. They are financial stability, flexibility, digitalization, career, and project-based work.
Erlandsson suspects that, while maybe not at the same level as during the pandemic, hybrid and remote work will continue to prove more popular than they were before it, urging companies to invest in their workers’ needs.
