Nearly 80 percent say they’ll work on flexible models, with more than 72 percent planning to remain fully remote.
While many employers continue to push for a return to the days of old where all employees are in the office all the time, new research reveals this isn’t likely to happen. According to Citrix polls conducted on LinkedIn and Twitter, nearly 80 percent of 13,000 respondents plan to work on flexible models in the year ahead, with more than 72 percent indicating they’ll remain fully remote.
Employees have come to realize that work will never be the same, and rather than waiting for a return to “normal,” they’re shaping a new, more flexible future that empowers them to work when, where and how they work best.
When asked how they plan to work in 2022, more than 13,000 respondents to the Citrix polls said:
- Remote full time (72.6 percent)
- In the office full time (27.7 percent)
- Hybrid (79.9 percent)
Their decisions are based on what they have learned through the grand remote-work experiment as to what works best for them when it comes to getting things done. And as comments posted within the poll reveal, they run the gamut:
- “I find working from home hugely productive (in the hours the kids aren’t in the house anyway). But interacting in real time with colleagues is amazing, too. Hybrid all the way for me when the rules allow me to do so.”
- “I have saved the company a ton of office costs, a ton on automotive expenses, reduced global warming, increased project success, and increased my family time. 100 percent WFH is the way to go.”
Many business leaders viewed remote work as a temporary solution to the pandemic problem and are eager to put it behind them. But like COVID-19, it isn’t going away. Employees have spoken and, much like the ’60s chants of “hell no, we won’t go,” made it clear that flexible work is the future of work. Smart employers will take heed and adapt their work models to accommodate this new reality and position themselves to succeed in it.
