There’s a large gap between the percentage of UK workers who have access to remote work and those who desire it, according to new research from global IT software firm Ivanti.
In a new report, “Elevating the Future of Everywhere Work,” the firm acknowledged that while remote and hybrid work continue to evolve, there are issues that still need to be addressed — and this is one of them.
This is important for ensuring fairness in the workforce as well as attracting and retaining talent, Ivanti suggests.
Only a fraction of staff allowed to work remotely
Only 43% of workers globally are offered remote work. (Photo by Andrew Lozovyi on DepositPhotos)
For this report, Ivanit surveyed 8,400 office workers, IT and security professionals and C-Suite executives in the UK, other parts of Europe, North America, Asia and Australia to understand attitudes, expectations and challenges surrounding the future of work.
Their report found almost 75% of respondents said they want to work remotely, but just over half of them actually get the chance to.
“Forty-three percent of office workers say they have the ability to work remotely or work a hybrid schedule with control over which days they come to the office — but 71% want to do this, a 28-point gap we call the preference gap,” Ivanti said.
Additionally, their survey found “a large share of knowledge workers want the flexibility that comes with hybrid or remote work but are currently denied it.”
Remote work “haves” and “have nots”
Ivanti pointed out that the gap between how many want to work remotely and how many are allowed to has created a remote work “culture problem inside organisations — a case of the “haves” and “have nots,” which must be urgently addressed.
Offering remote work improves retention and recruitment. (Photo by Ed Zbarzhyvetsky on DepositPhotos)
It found that the “preference gap” seems to reflect privilege based on seniority of roles and type of job, as IT workers only had a 13-point gap while C-suite executives had an even lower 12-point gap. These are two roles that typically have higher percentages of remote jobs.
At the same time, in the UK specifically, 33% of CEOs who responded said they would consider cutting pay of employees who are allowed to work remotely.
“Companies with large preference gaps — particularly among hard-to-hire positions — will continue to face difficulty attracting and retaining talent,” Ivanti warned.
On the other hand, it said, “When more employees are free to choose the time, place and tools with which they work best, your organisation becomes a destination company — the type of institution people fight to work for.”
Find the latest remote jobs in the UK via RemoteWorker.co.uk.
