They’re not gonna take it: employees want to work from home, and soon, the behind-the-times employees who don’t have a WFH policy aren’t doing to be able to stop them.
Consider this: more than one in four US knowledge workers have quit a job because their company didn’t offer flexible or remote work benefits.
That’s just one finding of a new study from Zapier, an automation app for small businesses and one of the first and largest companies to have an entirely remote workforce.
Zapier commissioned an online survey, conducted by the Harris Poll, which surveyed American knowledge workers (meaning those who work in a professional setting and use a computer as part of their job) for a detailed look at their feelings about remote work.
As it turns out, almost everyone wants to work remotely – at least sometimes.
About 74 per cent of respondents said they’d be willing to quit their job to work from home, and more than one in four said they’d like to try it, but their company didn’t allow it. Overall, 95 per cent of US knowledge workers said they wanted to work remotely.
Top reasons to work remotely
The top reason people want to work from home is to save money (48 per cent), the freedom to work anywhere (47 per cent), and the work-life balance perk of more time with family (44 per cent).
But that’s not all – 18 per cent said it was because they wanted to spend more time with their pets.
Less opportunity for women
The women surveyed value working from home more – but are less likely to get that option. Women were more likely than men to say the option to work remotely is one of the work perks they would most prefer to be offered by an employer (62 per cent vs. 52 per cent).
However, 40 per cent of female employees say they don’t work remotely because their company doesn’t allow it, compared to just 25 per cent of men.
Getting more done, getting people in the door
Companies that are wary to embrace working from home might want to think about the productivity benefits.
A healthy percentage of employees (42 per cent) think they are most productive working from home, while 32 per cent feel they accomplish more in the office.
There’s also the recruitment and retention factor. In a tight labour market, a company with a work-from-home policy stands head and shoulders over others, even with companies that have more traditionally attractive compensation packages.
Working remotely is also a highly desirable perk – nearly three in five knowledge workers (57 per cent) say the chance to work remotely is one of the perks they’d most prefer to be offered by an employer. They choose remote work over ‘been-there-done-that’ perks like free daily lunch (42 per cent), unlimited vacation time (39 per cent), and recreational activities like ping pong or foosball (25 per cent).
