A new study has found that women want to work from home more than men want to, highlighting the importance of flexible work policies in attracting top talent.
For the last few years, remote work has become a staple of the business world. The pandemic encouraged millions of business owners to adopt the flexible work policy in hopes of curbing the effects of the virus. The paradigm shift promoted work-life balance, giving employees the freedom to get work done at their own pace.
Now, however, businesses are starting to demand employees return to the office, and it could be driving away a certain type of employee more than others.
Workplace Flexibility Is More Important to Women
According to a study from YouGov titled Workforce Insights, women want to work from home more than men do. The study, which surveyed 4,000 US individuals in the labor force, asked respondents about how important it was for a business to allow employees to work from anywhere.
In the survey, 71% of woman said that this was at least moderately important, whereas only 66% of men said the same. On top of that, only 12% of women said the ability to work from anywhere was not important at all, whereas 16% of men agreed.
“Given these gender differences, businesses that support flexibility with voluntary office work policies are likely to have the broadest positive engagement from workers.”
That’s not all, though. Women also view flexibility in working hours as more important than men, with 57% agreeing that it’s very important for a business to offer, whereas only 44% of men feel the same way.
Should My Business Offer Hybrid Work?
In short, your business should absolutely offer a hybrid work policy, and there are plenty of statistics beyond this study that prove it.
For one, productivity has been up across the board since remote work became popular. One study found that 32% of hiring managers said that productivity has increased under remote work policies. Another found that businesses experience a 22% performance boost when allowing employees to work from home.
More concrete numbers make it even harder to argue with. A Global Workplace Analytics study found that the average business can save up to $11,000 per hybrid work employees, thanks to everything from lower costs to higher productivity
Simply put, demanding your employees return to the office for some perceived company culture just isn’t the way anymore. As long as you have the right tools in place to facilitate productivity, communication, and security, like web conferencing software and password managers, you should absolutely be taking advantage of the hybrid work movement.
