Microsoft’s annual global Work Trends Index surveyed 73 percent employees across the globe and concluded that there’s a huge demand for remote work to continue.
Through this survey, it was found that more than 40 percent of employees are ready to resign from their current companies, if they aren’t given an option to continue with remote work. 46 percent expressed their desire to switch jobs within a year as they now have an option to work remotely and they’d prefer that over a traditional office setup.
To find out what kind of working conditions do employees prefer while working remotely, Microsoft had conducted another survey with 1000 people from Ireland in February 2021.
Here’s what they found:
- 82 percent wished for improvement in the work-life balance.
- 76 percent wanted to disconnect after their working hours.
- 65 percent wanted lesser virtual meetings during the day.
Besides this, a decline in the usage of traditional devices and setups like landline connections was also seen. These older ways of communication are now replaced with better collaboration tools that allow virtual teams to collaborate and function effectively.
“Senior leaders need to be careful, as we move towards a new hybrid world of work, that they establish a culture that allows all their employees to continue to innovate and collaborate, while also providing the flexibility to disconnect when and where they need to,” said Aisling Curtis. Commercial Director of Microsoft Ireland.
Microsoft executive vice-president, Kurt DelBene published a blog post last week where he talks about the company’s vision for hybrid working.
With giants like Microsoft envisioning a positive future of remote work and making necessary shifts in the setup, it is evident the direction the world is moving in. The employers need to pay attention to their employees’ long term thoughts. Just like it is through social listening one understands the target customer better, it is through listening to the employees’ thoughts that businesses can get a better understanding about this new work culture of the now and of the future.
