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Employers can’t wait for the Covid vaccine to win back employees who have worked at home for months. However, the latest studies and surveys seem to dispel this optimism: Most employees no longer want to return to pre-pandemic working conditions.
More than half of American employees currently working from home say they would like to continue working from home, according to a Pew Research Center survey cited by Bloomberg.
A third of those surveyed said they want to be able to work remotely at least some of the time. Only 11% said they “rarely or never” want to work from home, according to a survey by Pew.
While nearly two-thirds of employees with a bachelor’s degree or higher said they can work remotely, only 23% of those without this level of education can.
Most of the employees are Those over 50 said it was easy for them to complete projects on time and stay motivated by working from home.
Similar conclusions result from a survey conducted by researchers at the University of Chicago. Employees appreciated that working from home allows them to do savings of 8% of salary. The study, published in December, also showed that Remote work after the pandemic could increase productivity by as much as 2.4%.
Conducted on a sample of 15,000 Americans, the survey reveals that for them, the experience of working from home was better than expected, and the results were positive for both employees and employers.
The main fears related to going back to work in offices
Worried about potential disease it ranked first in opinion polls published in late 2020.
70% of those surveyed expressed reluctance to return to the office, even though a vaccine for Covid-19 will be widely available, citing fears: Subway rides, crowded elevators, and indoor meals.
“This fear of closeness to others is likely to lead to social distancing at work and will support the demand to work from home for years to come,” the study authors concluded.
However, Nearly a third of Pew respondents said they would be “very uncomfortable” return to work and 58% expressed concern about exposure to Covid-19.
Fear of illness is more pronounced among women than men, and more among black and Hispanic employees. In fact, the latter have a 2.8 times greater risk of developing a serious illness or death, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, due to front-line work, such as retail. and due to reduced access to medical care.
Not all were roses for stay-at-home employees
Employees under the age of 50, especially those who have children – said that it is more difficult for them to stay motivated and fulfill their tasks.
Almost a quarter of all employees surveyed said they were less satisfied with their jobs.
30% of them declared feeling less connected with their co-workers and approximately one in five said they missed opportunities to advance.
The first signs of reluctance to return to office were felt in the fall.
A study conducted in October in 18 countries, In a sample of more than 8,000 employees in small and medium-sized companies, it showed that approximately 75% of them will no longer want to work in the same conditions as before the pandemic.
The majority, 39%, said that they no longer have a standard work schedule, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.and you know they wish they didn’t have to go to the same office every day.
32% even said they would like the workweek should not exceed five days.
Many of these wishes were related to the positive side effects that many employees felt due to the changes caused by the pandemic. The main gain was considered time spent with family. Almost 50% of those surveyed were happy to be able to spend more time with their loved ones.
Another advantage identified was the opportunity to save money.
Governments are considering major job changes in 2021
In early December, Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Pablo Iglesias announced that he was considering a possible shortening of working hours, as well as a reduction of the working week to four days.
Pablo Iglesias’ statement came just days after consumer goods giant Unilever announced that it would test a four-day work week in New Zealand to boost worker well-being and boost productivity.
The idea of a shorter work week has been around the world for years, but it has been taken much more seriously in the economic context this year.
Publisher: Georgiana Marina
