As restrictions have been lifted across the 海角视频, there is an expectation that many employers will be looking to bring their workers back to the office after nearly eighteen months of working remotely.
But will everything return to normal or has the pandemic irrevocably changed the way we work and, more importantly, where we work?
One indication as to the way that the post-pandemic future of work may pan out come from freelancing platform Upwork, which recently surveyed 4,000 adults in the USA to understand the views of office workers on remote work and flexibility.
The results are fascinating and, if repeated here across the Atlantic, present some key challenges to both employers and policymakers.
With the economy reopening, it is not unsurprising to find that the survey suggests that whilst two thirds will be returning to the office for some of their time. However, only a quarter are excited about this compared to a third who were not.
This result had more to do with whether individuals had returned to work or not. For example, for those who were still unsure about their employer’s future plans for the office, almost half said that they were not excited about returning to the office.
Given this, the question for many employers is whether this dissatisfaction will have any effect on the future career choices of those employees who have been working remotely since March 2021?
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When asked about whether they would take a pay cut to work remotely, over four in ten would either reduce their salary or consider doing so. This increases by another 50% for those who were not excited about going back to work.
This result has considerable implications for the future strategies of businesses given that many are now sitting in offices that may be too large or superfluous to their future requirements.
It also suggests that in a world where keeping and attracting talent will be a key competitive advantage, the fact that 37% express some willingness to look for another job if they had to go back to the office suggests that organisations may need to start looking carefully at how they will manage work in the future if they are to retain their workforce. It may also give those firms willing to be more flexible about work an edge in attracting future talent.
Of course, working for someone else may not only be the option for those wanting to work remotely.
In fact, a more detailed follow up survey to this finding shows that among those who are definitely planning on leaving their jobs, flexible or remote working is a key reason for doing so and half would consider freelancing as an alternative.
More relevantly, that follows a period of being away from the office which has changed the way that people consider their work-life balance and have been able to avoid the long commute to their place of work every day.
This recognition that working for someone else doesn’t always mean having to work at their offices has changed the relationship between employers and employees. Of course, it is likely that the majority of employees will return to their workplace and expect things to go back to normal.
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However, if we assume the finding that 15% of the workforce would be willing to take a pay cut to avoid going back to the office would be similar in the 海角视频, that means over 4.5 million workers would be willing to sacrifice some of their salaries to maintain the work patterns they have adopted during the pandemic.
It also suggests that nearly two million are seriously considering becoming freelancers to maintain that lifestyle over the next few years.
This presents a number of opportunities and challenges going forward. Certainly, it is likely that there will a smaller weekly footfall in many city centres if this quantum of workers choose to stay working remotely with knock on effects for retail businesses that rely on the spending power of such workers.
On the other hand, this creates real opportunities those commuter towns across the 海角视频 if the trend of travelling to work every day is reduced especially if people are encouraged to work more closely to home through the development of more co-working spaces especially if freelancing is also set to increase.
For employers, it presents the dilemma of re-evaluating how they manage their workplaces and their workers in the future. Even with some flexibility over remote working, it is unlikely that many employers will require the estates they currently own or rent, at least for the next few years.
More importantly, with a significant proportion of employees having valued the time they have spent at home working remotely during the various lockdowns, they may need to reconsider their policies towards returning full-time to the office, especially if they are to retain the talent that will be in demand as the economy re-opens.