Results from a survey by talent acquisition company CareerBuilder revealed that women favor the flexibility of working remotely. This despite calls by employers for workers to return to the office; 39 per cent of women say that home offices are more valuable as opposed to men (30%) who prefer a company-provided office as their ideal workplace.
34 per cent of employed adults prefer a home office compared to 27 per cent of employees who list a company-provided office as their top choice. Generationally speaking, 20 per cent of Gen Z, 35 per cent of Millennials and 44 per cent of Boomers all prefer to work from home.
The survey also revealed that 26 per cent of employees, primarily Gen Z (44%) and Millennials (30%), lean more toward a non-traditional work location:
– 13 per cent prefer an outdoor area or patio
– 9 per cent use a co-working space with other businesses
– 4 per cent go to a coffee shop to work
Even if the need to return back to the physical office is needed, more than 3 in 5 employees (66%) say that they are willing to commute no longer than 30 minutes, with women and Boomers most supportive of this. Another 34 per cent of workers are willing to travel beyond 30 minutes, while only 7 per cent are fine with travelling over an hour to work.
“Back-to-office mandates are proving challenging for both the employer and the employee, as cultures and values continue to shift,” said Kristin Kelley, Chief Marketing Officer at CareerBuilder.
“Expectations and employee needs have changed over the last two years, requiring many employers to adopt new rules for in-office attendance, meeting requests and even workday hours. To better attract and retain talent, employers have needed to adjust schedules and expectations to meet employees where they’re at, especially if retention is of utmost importance.”
