Employees are looking for a blended approach between working from home and going to the office as their companies come out of the pandemic, according to a recent survey done by Slack.
The survey indicated that 72 per cent of knowledge workers - people who identify as skilled office workers - want a mix between office and remote work. Of those surveyed, 16 per cent wanted to exclusively work from home while 12 per cent wanted to exclusively work from an office.
Where are you heading today? #cdnecon #chartoftheday pic.twitter.com/eFlMmFMiJl
- john stackhouse (@StackhouseJohn) October 5, 2020
Slack surveyed just over 9,000 workers in US, UK, France, Germany, Japan and Australia as part of its findings.
Stewart Butterfield, the chief executive officer of Slack Technologies Inc., said in a September interview with Bloomberg that people's imaginations have been opened as a result of working from home.
"I think we've all proved to ourselves that you know what, I think we could start working from home in a week's notice and continue operations," Butterfield said. "That signals a real shift."
Slack's survey was the result of a recently launched consortium called œFuture Forum to help companies make necessary transformations to thrive in the new economy.
The consortium takes on the task of understanding and providing solutions for businesses as the pandemic has provided the ability to question the regular 9-to-5 work culture.
The results raise several questions for businesses and their owners as they continue to re-evaluate their workforce and real estate strategies coming out of the pandemic. Some of those questions include:
- What can I do about the changing opinions of my workforce and how can I provide leadership? Are there steps I can take to ensure productivity while keeping my employees happy?
- What if someone on my staff gets sick? Should I re-allocate the number of sick days I give employees or permit them to work from home more?
- How do I keep the mental health of my employees in a good place? What steps can I take as a leader to ensure they aren't feeling left out if day-to-day interactions with others are less frequent?
- What are some of my insurance considerations if I take a blended working approach for my company?
Some of the advantages of remote work, according to Slack's survey, have been eliminating commutes, saving money and an improved work-life balance. Challenges of this working style include building relationships with colleagues, feelings of loneliness or isolation, and a lower awareness of what others are working on.
"I think organizations who insist employees come back to the office are going to be at a real competitive disadvantage for talent," Butterfield said.