Improved productivity, better work-life balance and improved wellbeing and health… All are benefits of hybrid working according to our latest survey of the changing workplace. But there is also evidence that men are enjoying the opportunities more than women, who seem more concerned that increased remote working will result in them becoming disconnected, overlooked or even burnt out.
Click here, or on the image, to download our full report, ‘Hybrid working: How will it impact your career’, including all data, graphs and analysis of responses received.
Highlights
- Most respondents (74%) said that their firms would prefer them to be in the office for two to three days a week, while the majority of individuals (57%) were more inclined to pick one or two days.
- In terms of gender differences here, however, the majority of men are more inclined to agree with their firms, with 77% opting for two to three days in the office, compared to 41% of women.
- Not surprisingly, men and women share many of the same reasons for going into the office – the social aspect, company culture and collaborating with colleagues. But there are some splits: more women tended to choose the office to avoid ‘loneliness/isolation at home’ (29% of women compared to 12% men); learning and development (26% of women to 15% men); career progression (23% of women to 12% men); and communicating with managers (55% of women to 38% men).
- For men, leadership opportunities appear to be the bigger drivers. As many as 73% of men said they wanted to go into the office to ‘develop/build teams’ compared to 52% of women, while 19% chose coordinating the work/activities of others compared to 13% of women.
- Particularly popular hybrid benefits were ‘improved productivity’ and ‘better work-life balance’, chosen by 82% and 75% of all respondents respectively, followed by 54% selecting ‘better wellbeing and health’, and 47% opting for ‘better ways to communicate’.
- More men, however, see the positive of hybrid working as ‘better wellbeing and health’ – 65% of men compared to 45% of women. More men than women chose better work/life balance and greater autonomy too, suggesting men have particularly enjoyed the freedom that has come with hybrid models.
- Women meanwhile worry more about hybrid working resulting in them becoming less engaged with the team (42% women compared to 31% of men), as well as being ‘out of sight out of mind’ (35% women compared to 12% of men). In addition, 39% of women are concerned about ‘burnout’ due to hybrid working, compared to just 19% of men.
Do women feel they need to work that much harder to be noticed if part of their job is remote? Have existing gender inequalities exposed by the pandemic (studies show that women took on more childcare and faced greater job insecurity during successive lockdowns), resulted in women taking a more negative view of their prospects?
To find out more, and to read our full analysis, download the PDF here, which includes all graphs and details of our survey responses.
To find out more about Totum research, contact Sarah at [email protected]
