Flexible Working in 2017

Each year, the flexible working landscape continues to change. More and more employees demand a better work-life balance and although businesses have tried to adapt and improve it for their staff, has there actually been a noticeable change?

We went out to discover what the flexible working landscape looks like now and how far businesses still have to go to meet their employee’s requests.

Here are the insights from the 2017 flexible working survey:

So from our flexible working survey, we found that:

• 58% of workers are offered flexible working, but still 24% don’t make use of it
• 47% of full time employees do not have flexible working encouraged at their workplace
• 67% of employees wish they were offered flexible working
• 58% of people believe that working away from the office would help them become more motivated
• 45% of people surveyed spend over an hour commuting a day
• 56% of commuters feel stressed or flustered at least once a month, 66% of which suffer this at least once a week
• 53% of people feel that they would be more productive if they could work outside the office
• 70% of workers feel that offering flexible working makes a job more attractive to them
• 6% more men than women are offered flexible working
• Women (34%) are more likely to ask for flexible working over a pay rise compared to men (26%)
• 40% of people would choose flexible working over a pay rise if they could only choose one and;
• 56% of people believe managers need to adapt their skills to manage a remote workforce

So there you have it. As you can see from our flexible working statistics, it’s still a huge priority in our work-life as 67% wish they were offered it and 47% don’t have it encouraged, and even 40% of people would choose it over a pay rise. Although we have made progress (with 58% of workers being offered flexible working), there is still room to grow.

With an astounding 70% of workers strongly believing that flexible working would make a job more attractive to them, if employers plan on hiring top talent, flexible working is an imperative. Employees continue to demand improvements in their work-life balance and when flexible working can bridge that gap, what’s to stop them?

After all… 58% of people believe that working away from the office would help them become more motivated, and 53% feel that they would be more productive if they would work outside the office.

So if you’re looking to get the most out of flexible working, wanting to know the top tips or how to implement it, take a look at our insights hub, where we’ve got the Ultimate Guide to Flexible Working for Employers and the Ultimate Guide to Flexible Working for Employees! Access our Insights hub here.