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Stats About Work Flexibility That Prove It's Becoming One of the Most Attractive Perks

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Hiring managers know certain facts to be true when searching for top talent: high-caliber candidates want great pay, advanced benefits, and the technical support to help them achieve peak performance. However, as the workplace evolves, there’s one other attractive perk that many candidates expect: work flexibility.

Stats about work flexibility show that it has become not just a desirable perk, but increasingly is a benefit that job candidates expect. There are many flexible work types, including at-home, part-time, and job-sharing positions, as well as compressed workweek jobs. Many of the best candidates look for employers who do more than give lip service to the idea of flexible work and work-life balance for their team members.

Among all the shiny objects employers can dangle to attract top candidates, work flexibility is an attractive perk that’s often at or near the top of the list. To hire the best, it’s not just about the money. Flexibility is among the benefits that remote workers really want and value as being meaningful to their lives and careers. Interested in data to back up that assertion?

Check out these stats about work flexibility and why it’s such an attractive perk:

Young workers, and other employees, place flexibility first.

An Ernst & Young global survey of 9,700 young workers found that more flexibility beat out just about all other job perks—including health insurance for some younger workers. On top of that, a 2018 Deloitte study of 10,000 people shows that a lack of work flexibility is the most likely reason a millennial would quit their job. Understanding what younger workers want is a top priority for many recruiters and hiring managers seeking to build a firm workforce for the future. According to the “Future Workforce Report,” the remote workforce is expected to grow in the next decade, and employers need to be prepared.

Here’s something to keep in mind: it’s not just younger workers who value flexibility. One of the myths about older workers that may need to be dispelled is that they don’t seek work flexibility as much as their younger counterparts—a concept that research has increasingly debunked.

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More remote workers love their jobs and are more productive.

One of the most encouraging studies about work flexibility to emerge found that people who enjoy the flexibility to work from home are 87% more likely to love their job. This statistic bolsters the notion that work flexibility is more than just an attractive perk, but a bona fide benefit that many workers now demand.

The study by Leadership IQ offered the eye-popping statistic that only 24% of workers in traditional environments reported loving their jobs, compared to the overwhelming response of 87% from home-based workers. Additionally, working from home saves employees thousands every year, making for happier campers.

The bonus for employers is that flexible work arrangements allow workers to be more productive at home, making this a win-win for employees and employers.

Goodbye to the eight-hour workday?

A survey by PwC about future workforce trends found that 63% of respondents believe the old-school eight-hour workday may soon become obsolete. What’s more, the survey found, 48% of employees who worked from home at least one day a week were more likely to rate their jobs a 10 on a scale of one to 10.

Millennials and gen z workers are helping drive the trend, but they’re joined by workers of all generations who want to capitalize on how technology makes job flexibility more widely available to workers across all demographics.

Interested in hiring flexible workers? Request an invite to FlexJobs today!

Christine Bernier Lienke contributed to this post. 

Originally published April 28, 2017. Updated June 27, 2018. 

 

Photo Credit: bigstockphoto.com

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