As many companies wonder why their workplaces remain ghost towns, a new survey reveals that COVID concerns are not what’s discouraging staff from coming into the office. In fact, they are working from home because of the greater work-life balance it purportedly offers.
Conducted by The Conference Board, its latest workforce survey captured the thoughts of more than 1,200 U.S. workers. Respondents weighed in on topics including career plans, factors driving them to pursue new job opportunities, opinions about remote work, mental health, and more.
Workers place such a premium on work-life balance that a quarter of workers who changed jobs did so for the ability to work from anywhere. What’s more, Baby Boomers who left their jobs for this flexibility did so at twice the rate of Millennials.
The survey findings also reveal that workplace flexibility goes a long way in supporting workers’ mental health – 70 percent of workers say that flexible hours and work location are the top policies businesses can enact to support their mental health.
Additional key findings include:
Among workers who quit during the pandemic, a quarter did so for the ability to work from anywhere:
Among workers who recently changed jobs, nearly one in four (24 percent) did so for the ability to work from home/anywhere.
Better pay and career advancement remain the top reasons for changing jobs, according to 37 percent and 31 percent of respondents, respectively.
Only 8 percent found a new job because of concerns over vaccine mandates.
Despite decades in the office, Baby Boomers are quitting for the option to work from anywhere—and at nearly twice the rate of their younger colleagues:
Baby Boomers quit for the ability to work from anywhere at nearly twice the rate of Gen Xers and Millennials:
- Baby Boomers: 17 percent
- Gen X: 9 percent
- Millennials: 9 percent
For Millennials, greater faith in the trajectory of the new organization (10 percent) was as great a reason to change jobs as the ability to work anywhere (9 percent).
“Story after story has covered the premium younger generations place on flexibility in the workplace,” said Rebecca Ray, executive vice president of Human Capital at The Conference Board. “But as these survey results demonstrate, that desire is not unique to Millennials. Indeed, at more than twice the rate of their younger counterparts, Baby Boomers left their jobs for the ability to work from anywhere—whether they are working from the comfort of home…or from an RV in Yellowstone.”
Debunked: COVID concerns are not the reason offices are empty.
72 percent cited work-life balance as the reason they work remotely.
Productivity and safety were also factors, albeit much less so.
To read the full study, click here.