- Working adults or job seekers tend to prefer remote work over being in the office full time, per Bankrate.
- Those who support flexible work are happy to quit to avoid going in person each day.
Many US adults want some kind of flexible work and don't mind job hopping to achieve it.
New survey results from Bankrate found 64% of US adults who are part of the workforce are in favor of fully remote work instead of work done all in person. Additionally, 68% said they are somewhat or strongly supportive of a hybrid model over having to be fully in person. The July survey from Bankrate was done by YouGov and included US adults who either had or were looking for full-time work.
"I think it's going to be a huge challenge over the intermediate term for employers to retain talent — particularly if they're in a setting where they can't provide these aspects of flexibility," Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst for Bankrate, told Insider — where these aspects of flexibility include hybrid work, fully remote work, or a four-day workweek. "Of course for those who can, it's an opportunity."
According to the new Bankrate results, almost 40% of those who support hybrid over a fully in-person work structure said they would be happy to either change jobs or industries. 28% said they would be happy to complete work during off-peak hours like weekends. Similarly, 42% of those who prefer fully remote over being fully in person said they would be happy to change industries or jobs, and just over a third of them said they would be happy to get their work done during off-peak hours.
Many workers have gotten used to working from home or somewhere else during the pandemic, and they might not feel like it's productive to return to an office every day even if their companies wish for them to head back.
"It's hard to imagine that for a knowledge worker that they really need to be in the office five days a week," Robert C. Pozen, a senior lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management, told Insider. "If they organize their time well, they'll have some days where it makes more sense for them to be at home. That learning was so powerful after Covid that I don't think there's any going back on it."
People have already shared with Insider how they have quit because they didn't like having to return to an office or didn't want to head back. One person told her story of becoming a freelancer after quitting a job before an official return-to-office announcement.
"I never want to get on a rush hour subway car ever again," she told Insider. "I never want to put on a business casual suit ever again. I never want to line up to use the microwave at lunch in a shared lunchroom ever again."
One person who is in a new fully remote position had previously been working remotely as an ad tech contractor. He chose not to return to the office after being told to come in and couldn't work out an alternative plan with his company. He had already moved away during the pandemic and was unsure how he would "commute 550 miles three days a week."
"I made the decision that I wasn't going to return to office, that it wasn't viable for me and my family," he said.
Some people quit their jobs during the Great Resignation for better flexibility. Hamrick noted while the labor market has cooled, it is still very strong for workers, with more openings than unemployed Americans. Workers' interest in flexible work may make it hard to fill these roles, meaning the desired flexibility "is both a challenge and an opportunity," according to Hamrick.
"I think that this desire for flexibility is one impediment with respect to employers who are still looking to fill those many job openings," Hamrick said. "And then there are other questions or issues as well that relate to the need to get more people into the workforce, having seen some setbacks there in recent years through a number of different impacts."
While people want flexibility in their work locations, people looking to switch jobs for a fully work-from-home role may not be able to find one.
"I think fully remote work is going to be tough for them to find," Pozen said.
According to Pozen, that's because companies see that brainstorming, negotiation, and some other work functions for the jobs of knowledge workers are simply better done when in person. Pozen added companies would also argue it's good for company culture.
Companies are going to have to make hard choices if they're determined to get workers back in the office every day
Paul Rubenstein, chief people officer for people analytics company Visier said that companies have to be clear about their goals and both leaders and employees "have to be willing to make hard choices."
"Just because you've decided as a leader that you want people in the office and that's part of your business model and you've made that choice, that's OK," Rubenstein said. "If you're an employee and you are like, 'my company wants people back in the office,' they're not a bad company. It's a business choice. And maybe that's just not the company for you."
Despite hybrid work being pretty popular among employers, managers, and workers according to survey results from talent solutions company Robert Half and reporting on companies from Insider, a hybrid mandate may also still mean people are unhappy and look for a new role.
"Among knowledge workers, the hybrid is here to stay," Pozen said. "It's a bad idea for any organization to make a uniform rule across the whole organization as to what exactly should be the design of the hybrid."
"If you want to have productive teams, you've got to tailor the design of the hybrid to the needs and the functions of that team," Pozen said, adding that otherwise some people may say goodbye in this uniform hybrid situation.
Are you thinking about switching jobs or have already quit because of return to office requirements or a desire for flexible work? How do you feel about your company's workplace model? Reach out to this reporter to share your story, at mhoff@insider.com.