Working Online: Jobs from Home – The new workforce trend
We have never seen workplace transformation like this. The crisis has disrupted industries and employees working in it. Employees are now noticing a better work-life balance among other factors. If employees are looking for a shift, they’re looking for the best work from home jobs. It is now up to organizations to step up and ensure that they have the best environment to attract all types of skilled employees.
Work Life Balance
According to a recent research released by ManpowerGroup, 8 in 10 want a better work and family balance in the future. 43% of employees also believe that typical 5 days a week office hours are a thing of the past. Most of them prefer only returning to work for 2-3 days of the week, while working at home for the remainder of it. 48% of full-time employees expect improved work-life balance compared to 40% of part-time employees.
Working From Home Works For Few
Employees today want to keep their job, stay healthy, learn and keep developing skills. They do not want go back to the old way of working long hours in the office. For employees in certain sectors such as cyber security, business transformation, accountancy, and sales, they look for at-home or online job opportunities. While searching jobs onlines, the new trend is skewed towards clicking on work from home opportunities. They can skip the rush of the commute (and increased health risk that public transport brings) as well as have greater flexibility in how and when they work. They get to blend home and work in a way that works for them.
Companies Have Taken Notice
To suit this, companies today have been taking note. In another COVID-19 impact survey that we conducted among Indian employers, we asked them if they planned to offer additional employee benefits that were not available before the pandemic. 40% of employers were open to having flexible or condensed working hours to manage their job and their safety. 46% of employers intended to offer options such as work remotely sometimes or all the time, opportunities to learn and develop new skills, health and wellbeing offerings, and part-time work. Only 14% reported not intending to offer any of the above mentioned options to their employees. This is certainly positive news.
Some Drag Their Feet Back To The Workfield
Those with in-demand skills can call the salary shots, work remotely, avoid the commute and stay safe at home. Unfortunately, those with declining skills are required to commute to work onsite, and subject to even greater exposure. These include employees who work in hospitality, entertainment, retail, grocery stores, and anyone who need to be face-to-face with customers. They cannot work from home or search for jobs online. They have less flexibility and work life balance and more childcare challenges. Additionally, they also are more likely to have to commute and have increasing exposure to the virus which means they’re at greater risk of infecting their family.
Overall, we have seen an increase in demand for skilled workforce to be able to work from home. Employees no longer have to commute to work. Organisations are keeping the safety of their employees in mind and are providing extra lenience for them to work from home. This could potentially lead to an increase in online jobs where in the future many businesses may not have a physical presence, and may make do with their virtual workspaces.
Data taken from What Workers Want 2020 Global Report & unreleased COVID-19 Impact report (part of the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey).
