The findings pointed to the rise of legal actions or “Right to Request” laws around the world that are giving employees the right to request flex work. This trend and an improved job market have led to the development of what Unify calls the Flex Work Imperative—a perfect storm of employee demand, an improving job market, and numerous laws that are shifting flex work from being a job perk to an employee’s right.
“Employees are serious about flex work,” said Bill Hurley, Chief Marketing Officer at Unify. “In addition to nearly half of all employees preferring flex work over a pay raise, nearly one third said they would change employers if offered flexible work elsewhere. It is time to get on board—business leaders who ignore the Flex Work Imperative could find themselves suffering the loss of their best employees.”
For Volume 4 of the NW2W Index, Unify surveyed more than 800 global participants at all levels across finance, IT, marketing, R&D, sales, customer service, operations, and other functional areas. The Index showed that, implemented properly, flex work can save money, especially when a pay raise across the board could be difficult to meet.
In the full report, available on the NW2W hub, Unify provides best practices for how businesses can successfully implement flex work, emphasizing it is not an “all-or-nothing” situation. Rather, many employees would be satisfied with a few days per week working from home; or the ability to work in the office for part of the day, and then finish at home. Some of the best practices include management setting the example by working remotely a few hours per week, leveraging technology to have as successful an interaction as if they were in the office. Additionally, businesses can establish and document a virtual team code of conduct that outlines the things employees must do in order to make flex work successful.
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