"The Future of Work is Flexible"
This week, Employment Hero released their Remote Work Report. Obviously, we’re interested - we are all about remote work. Likely you will be interested too; whether you’re an employer or an employee because the “future of work is flexible”.
Here’s the headline - “less than half of New Zealand’s employees have fully returned to the office”. Wowser, worse than the number of kids not returning to school! Actually, it’s ‘knowledge workers’ specifically that haven’t returned to offices and that’s defined as “workers with jobs which require them to work primarily on a computer or with documentation, rather than a job which is predominantly physical or location-bound”.
Here’s the rub though… If you thought that let your business off the hook, the survey respondents came from a whole range of industries. Even restaurants, factories and shops can have office-based staff.
So, what’s the story?
Essentially, 40% of NZ knowledge workers “have embraced a hybrid working arrangement, and 21% work remotely all of the time”. Is it popular? All indications say yes, 81% of Kiwi knowledge workers “would consider working remotely permanently from now on”.
Given the skills shortage, the rising costs of living (and commuting), flexibility around where a person works from could be a dealmaker.
Employment Hero’s research showed 89% of respondents would work remotely at least one day a week. Here’s the clincher – 48% of people who were already working remotely at least some of the time, said they would consider quitting their job if their employers forced them back to the office full-time.
We’ve all seen the research around four-day weeks and increased productivity (if not, Google it, it’s massive). Remote working can also provide improvements in productivity and quality of work.
There is a question of age. The 18-24 year olds were 24% more likely than average to say they were happy to work remotely every day. Those aged 55+ were 80% more likely to say they wouldn’t choose to work remotely at all. It’s that elusive thing, work-life balance (at least that’s what my generation used to call it, younger generations call it ‘life’).
According to Employment Hero, 39% of the surveyed employees had returned to the office at the directive of their employer, but that’s not the only reason. Some people missed the office buzz; 25% of those returning said it was for the culture and 17% was because they were feeling isolated.
The reality check is that on an individual level, people have all sorts of reasons to want to work remotely. We see a real mix at The Business Hive. We see some people only in the school holidays because a) they’re visiting from out of town and leaving the kids with the grandies or b) they’re seeking refuge (from the kids at home) to get some work done.
While some of our people find being in a professional environment helps them focus on work, others come for the sociability or a mix of the two. The great thing is we have spaces for both – focused work with an extra screen in a quieter zone or a more social environment with an eye to everyone’s favourite gathering spot (when you want to be social) – our enormous kitchen island!
The trick for employers is going to be figuring out what your employees want and how often. Businesses are only going to save on overheads if they have flexibility in their property arrangements. A floor of mostly empty desks costs about the same to run as a floor at full capacity.
Equally, employees who shoulder the cost of working remotely (power, IT, heating, printing etc…) can’t claim those costs back in the same way self-employed people can. No business wants to pay twice.
The Remote Work Report also considers how remote work impacts on marginalised people and their perceptions of equity (remote working seems to be better for them) and what impact automation and AI (artificial intelligence) might have (we aren’t ready to trust it entirely).
In all, it’s worth a read. The difference in attitudes by age could indicate stage of life but it could also be tipping a nod to the way of work in the future. With the skills shortage impacting everywhere – the fight for the best people might yet come down to changing our expectations on the way they should work.