How about … everyone?
A leadership IQ study, The State Of Working From Home In 2020, found that an overwhelming 91% of employees preferred a hybrid arrangement with at least some time working from home (WFH), while a mere 9% would have preferred to work at the office fulltime.
What does that tell employers?
The benefits of WFH
A happy workforce translates into a successful corporate environment. Employees who feel that their interests are being attended to will be more inclined, in turn, to give their best to their employer.
The study revealed that upward of 50% of employees experienced an improvement in their work-life balance, productivity, mental health and relationships with colleagues while working from home (WFH). These positive employee experiences are bound to reflect in a positive work attitude and improved outputs in terms of productivity, creativity, collegial relationships, company culture and sick-free hours.
Another factor is the cost of office space, and here it just makes sense to at least cut down to the minimum required desks, especially when not all employees are at the office all of the time. One model would be to rotate personally attended meetings, such that there is some physical interaction among employees without the need to have everyone there every day.
The lure of the home office
The employee attraction and retention landscape has altered significantly owing to changing skill sets, greater mobility and, of course, the implications of having employees work from anywhere in the world, especially since the lockdowns.
It was found that most employees would want to stay with a company if given the option to WFH. This boon could be a dealbreaker in retaining those in your workforce who are either open to migrating elsewhere or are actively pursuing a change.
As for recruiting: have your eye on some big fish from the HR pool? Follow the example of companies like Facebook and Google, and offer permanent or at the very least hybrid remote work opportunities.
Takeaway
People prefer to work from home. This can be a game changer for companies that embrace this in numerous aspects of their HR approach.