Move over WFH, hello 'work whenever': 94% of employees want to ditch the 9-to-5 for flexible schedules, new survey says

• If you thought WFH was the best way to entice employees, wait until you hear about "work whenever."
• 94% of workers surveyed by Slack said they want to ditch the 9-to-5 for more flexible schedules.

If you thought work-from-home options were the best way to entice employees, wait until you hear about "work whenever."

In a new Slack survey published Thursday, a staggering 94% of workers said they want flexibility in when they work — compared to 80% of respondents who said they want flexibility in where they work. Or as Axios dubbed the trend: "work-whenever."

But breaking free from a 9-to-5 schedule isn't possible for most corporate employees, with over half of the survey's respondents saying they have "little to no ability" to adjust their work hours from the position's preset hours.

The lack of schedule flexibility could very well be a deal breaker: employees with rigid work hours are 3x more likely to "definitely" look for a new job in the next year, according to the survey data.

The research report is one of many findings from Slack's latest "future forum pulse," a survey of 10,646 knowledge workers across the US, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, and the UK, conducted in May.

"Dissatisfaction with the status quo has simmered below the surface for years. The pandemic has caused things to boil over," Future Forum VP Brian Elliott said following the consortium's launch. "The sudden move to remote work provides the opportunity to question decades of orthodoxy about a 9-to-5, office-centric, homogeneous work culture."

Employers allowing remote employees to "work from anywhere" has been one of the more substantial workplace developments to gain traction over the past few years.

One of the best examples of the trend is Airbnb, which announced in June that its employees can work from home, from the office, or even from other countries for periods of time. The company's CEO Brian Chesky said the Airbnb careers page was viewed more than 800,000 times after the announcement.

But as recession anxieties grow and the labor market tips back to the side of the employer, workers are losing some of the bargaining power they gained during the pandemic. Whether or not "work whenever" picks up speed may depend on the state of the economy in 2023.

According to Future Forum's Elliot, employees who aren't satisfied with their company's level of flexibility are still at a "strong risk" of walking.

"Companies looking to build productive, successful teams need to think about how they provide flexibility not only in where but also when people work," he said.

Do you have a "work whenever" job? Email this reporter at htowey@insider.com from a non-work address.