As more and more companies adopt flexible work policies or even start the segue into a remote company, you would think that many other organizations would follow suit. The thing is that some organizations still want to be brick-and-mortar, preferring to do everything in person as opposed to virtually. Unfortunately, employers can’t ignore remote work and its many, many benefits any longer.
Why Employers Can’t Ignore Remote Work
The 2015 AfterCollege Career Insight Survey took a look at how people look for a job. The survey, made up of undergraduate, college seniors, grad students, and recent college grads, found, not surprisingly, that many were looking for flex and freedom in their future positions.
What Job Seekers Want Most: Remote Work
According to the survey, among the most important factors for a new position included office location (53 percent) and work-life balance (51 percent).
Similarly, certain policies that would cultivate a flexible, fun, and casual work environment were highly favored by respondents, noting that it would have a positive impact on the job seekers’ interest in an employer.
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Leading the responses by a landslide was the ability to work remotely (68 percent) along with regular social activities (65 percent) and a casual dress code (62 percent), with the latter two being synonymous with remote work and a rich company culture.
Up-and-Coming Generations Value Flex
What makes these survey results so interesting is the demographic of this group. With an estimation that most of the respondents are in their late teens (undergraduates) to graduate students (mid-20s), it shows that the desire for flexible work and remote work options is no longer a strictly millennial thing anymore, but is even being embraced by the generation after millennials.
Therefore, remote work is not a fad for the 30-something crowd who are starting families and raising kids, but is something desired—and sought by—those in college or recent grads. And frankly, if your company doesn’t offer flex, you run the risk that your employees might quit for a more flexible job.
Millennials, those aged 18 to 35, represent the largest age group in the U.S. workforce, according to a Staffing Industry article. And since a staggering 90 percent (or higher) want to work flexibly, it only makes sense for companies that want to stay competitive in their fields to offer flexible work. That way, they can attract—and retain—this highly coveted segment of the workforce. Not to mention all the benefits they stand to reap, such as decreased operating costs, a more loyal, dedicated, and productive workforce, and a strong decrease in employee turnover.
It’s almost impossible for employers to ignore remote work at this point. Doing so edges them out of attracting the top-tier talent that is out there, and only ends up costing them in lower productivity levels, decreased morale, expensive office costs, and having to train and hire new employees when previous ones quit to work for companies that do offer flexible working conditions.
Remote work is only part of the equation. Check out these 8 companies offering creative employee benefits.
Readers, what do you think of these fresh stats about remote work? Let us know in the comments!
photo credit: bigstockphoto.com
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