Executives And Employees Dramatically Differ On How Things Are Going And The Future Of Work

Summary

A leading global technology company and business solutions provider—NTT—has released a large-scale, global survey on attitudes to remote working, and some of the findings are not what you'd expect. The Global Workplace Report offers important insights into the future of work gathered from a survey of 1,146 executives across 23 countries. Here are some of the highlights:

Through the media, the new work-from-home experience is seen as what we all now prefer. 

However, the global survey found that 79 per cent of organizations believe their employees prefer to work in an office. 

Two-thirds of employees admitted they didn't feel they possessed the appropriate tools required to work remotely successfully; just 39 per cent said they'd preferred to work full-time in the office.

Meanwhile, 55 per cent of managers claim that they are 'strongly satisfied' that their companies are up and ready for hybrid working.

When offered a choice of at-home, hybrid or in-office working arrangements, employees were relatively evenly split, showing they didn't want the future of work to be a one-size-fits-all process.

Employees say that hybrid and remote working have positively impacted both their personal and work lives.

Fifty-seven per cent of employees said they would now select an employer based on work-life balance because, more than anything else, they want flexibility and support.

These findings might indicate that some leaders are significantly more satisfied with adjusting to new working norms than their employees. But, on the other hand, this could highlight that managers may not fully understand their workers' wants.

References

Feb 2021 AFR Working from home becomes part of the permanent employment landscape

Aug 2021 KPMG Embedding new ways of working

Sep 2021 The Conversation Hybrid working: how to make it a success

Sep 2021 ABC Australia Working from home likely to stay long after COVID-19 pandemic is over