Business activities in 2020 and 2021 were marked by remote working and working at home. For 2022, one of the key topics has been whether workers should, can, or want to return to the office.
If U.K. based data is anything to go by, most workers would prefer to stay at home. Analysis of Google Search data by online salary calculator Income Tax UK. provided to Digital Journal, reveals a significant shift in jobseekers’ preference in terms of their new job.
For example, online searches for “work from home jobs” increased 84 percent in 2022 and people searching for “4-day week jobs” skyrocket 1,011 percent in 2022 (compared with data collated for 2021).
With those searching for work-from-home jobs, this rate has almost doubled in early 2022, and compared to 2019, the year before the pandemic, the increase is a 189 percent.
The number of hybrid jobs – jobs that can be performed either from home or an office – also experienced large growth in early 2022. Online interest skyrocketed 270 percent in the first months of the year when combined to 2021.
For those employers not wishing to be as flexible, within the U.K. the balance seems to be more in favour with workers in the context of a near-record low 3.9 percent unemployment rate that gives workers, depending on their occupation, leverage to pick the jobs that suit their lifestyle
Hence, the data pattern suggests that companies that are being flexible with their work schedule will have leverage and advantage, as they can reach out to a larger pool of potential candidates who are looking for a better work-life balance.
A spokesperson for Income Tax UK tells Digital Journal: “With seasonally adjusted total pay year-on-year growth breaking multiple all-time records in the past year, the labour market looks to favour companies willing to reward their team members with higher wages and pay more attention to their staff members’ needs.”
The statement continues: “With the unemployment rate close to 30 years low in the UK, firms will have to think outside the box and provide competitive salaries as well as enable a work culture and a work schedule that will suit employees’ modern lifestyle if they want to attract and retain top talent and stand out as an employer.”
Overall, these trends indicate that companies that will have robust systems and processes in place to support remote working and flexible working hours will be champions of the recruitment game in the near, and most likely, distant future.
