Two-thirds of workers willing to accept less pay for job flexibility, study finds
Written by The Edge Tuesday, 19 April 2011 19:51
Today’s workers want flexible work arrangements so much that they are willing to take a pay cut in return and will consider leaving a job that is overly rigid, says a study commissioned by technology company Cisco.
Work flexibility was so important that two-thirds of employees surveyed were willing to take a job with 10% less pay and more flexibility than a higher-paying job that lacked flexibility in device usage, access to social media and mobility. Mobility was ranked highly, with almost one in 10 or more of those surveyed saying that it would dictate their company loyalty (13%), their choice of jobs (12%), and their morale (9%).
“Employees felt that if their companies weren’t prepared to be flexible about locale, then it was a reason to leave. The key here is empowerment — they want to feel trusted and to be measured on productivity,” says Cisco senior director of marketing for Asia-Pacific, Lauren Ventura.
Titled The Cisco Connected World Report, the study surveyed a total of 2,600 workers and IT professionals in 13 countries, including the UK, the US, India, China, Japan, and Australia.
Six out of 10 people believe thta thay can work as productively at home or on the move as they can in the office
According to the research, six out of 10 people believe that they can work as productively at home or on the move as they can in the office. The sentiment was especially marked in Asia and Latin America, with 93% of employees in India, 81% in China and 76% in Brazil saying so.
Ventura notes, “There is a definite difference in the results gathered from emerging nations and the more mature markets like the US and the UK.
This could be due to population demographics — the workforce in emerging markets is younger and comprised of a higher percentage of millennials. The difference is thus generational.”
Two of every three workers expect to be allowed to use any device — personal or company-issued— to access corporate networks, applications and information anywhere and at any time. In the future, one-fifth of workers expect their choice of devices to include car navigation screens.
In return for their employer’s trust, employees with full access to corporate networks, applications, and information outside of the office will work longer hours outside the office. Almost half (45%) work between two to three extra hours a day and a quarter are working an extra four hours or more, showing that the flexibility to manage their time blurs the boundaries between work and life.
Despite this trend, almost half the IT respondents (45%) say their companies were not prepared, policy and technology-wise, to support a fully mobile workforce. The biggest barriers to this are security, budget and staff expertise.
Employers’ concerns are valid. One-quarter of the IT respondents say about 25% of the devices issued to employees in the past year was lost or stolen. Data security is also at risk, with 58% admitting to having allowed non-employees to use their corporate devices unsupervised. One in five (19%) admit to never checking their surroundings, a further 19% have noticed strangers looking at their screens in public and 17% admit to having left their devices unattended in public.
The key, advises Ventura, is policy-making and education. “Many employees surveyed are unaware of corporate policy on the security of these devices. Some aren’t even sure if their companies have a policy,” she says. “To safeguard data, companies must establish policies and then educate and train their employees.”
