Seven in every 10 employees in several developed economies would prefer to work from anywhere than get a promotion, according to the latest annual Everywhere Workplace report from Ivanti.
The study involved a survey of more than 6,100 office workers and IT professionals in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Brussels, Spain, Sweden and Australia.
Results also showed that despite its popularity, remote work is a double-edged sword, with 10% of respondents reporting a negative effect on their mental health. Among women respondents, 56% said so while 44% among males agreed.
Additionally, many employees are feeling the effects of losing personal connection with coworkers (9%) and being expected to work longer hours than when in the office (6%).
Also, 52% women reported having lost personal connection with coworkers, compared to 47% of men.
The research found that 42% of employees prefer a hybrid model of work — a 5% increase since the last study. Also, 30% of employees said they would prefer to work from home permanently — a 20 per cent decrease since the last study — demonstrating that many are looking to interact with colleagues again.
Respondents indicated that the top three benefits they have realised since working remotely have been time savings due to less commuting (48%), better work/life balance (43%) and a more flexible work schedule (43%).
“The pandemic has catalysed a monumental shift in where and how people work,” said Jeff Abbott, CEO of Ivanti. “The good news is that by increasing automation of common or mundane tasks, companies can improve work-life balance for IT and security teams, plus prevent data breaches and most importantly improve employee experiences.”
Automation will become increasingly important as environments are expected to continue to get more complicated. One in every five (22%) of respondents said they became digital nomads during the pandemic and 18% said they are considering becoming a digital nomad.
The study also found just under a quarter (24%) of respondents have left their job in the past year during the “The Great Resignation” and 28% are considering leaving in the next six months.
Return to the office policies are a key factor in driving resignations. Nearly a quarter (24%) of respondents stated that they would quit their job if their employer enforced a full-time return to the office policy.
“Employees have more options than ever before—and they’re good options too,” said Biro. “They can go anywhere and work for anyone, so that means that companies have to shift their retention tactics toward implementing the best technology that makes everyone’s jobs easier, and more fun.”
