Can you put a price on work flexibility?
While we couldn’t give you a definitive dollar amount, we can confidently say U.S. workers hold this perk in high regard, as evidenced by asurvey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Sungard AS. The survey revealed that 56% of remote workers would take a pay cut to work from any location full-time.
Both employers and employees are touting hybrid work as the ideal workplace model moving forward. What else are they saying?
Here are four other interesting discoveries from our recent studies on the evolving workplace.
- Older Americans are over the office
Older Americans are done with the office and ready to make home their permanent place of work. Just about 40% of Americans between the ages of 55 and 64 want to strictly work remotely. For adults over 65, the number climbs to 44%.
The younger generation, as it turns out, sees things differently. Forty-three percent of individuals between the ages of 35 and 44 would prefer a combination of remote and in-office working. Interestingly, 29% of 18- to 34-year-olds want to only work in the office. - There are real concerns about securing extended remote work
American workers want a remote option, but most organisations are worried about security.
According to a Pulse study conducted on behalf of Sungard AS, just over one in five (21%) employers are fully confident their infrastructure security can support long-term remote work. Only 7.5% are very confident their security protections against phishing or ransomware attacks are adequate in a largely virtual environment.
Securing the hybrid workforce should be top of mind for all organisations at this point. There needs to be a collective effort between the security team and end users to create and maintain an environment that promotes flexibility without sacrificing security. Require multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all employees, segment your networks and invest in cybersecurity training. There’s no time to wait.
- Businesses feel further investment in resiliency is necessary
Most respondents (61.5%) believe that the changes they made during the pandemic have improved their overall resiliency, but the work is far from over.
Forty-three percent feel they must provide employees with better or more technology to establish a successful remote working environment.
If you haven’t already, it’s high time to reevaluate your company’s operational resilience. Address any potential third-party risk, review your entire business resilience programmeme and adjust based on best practises. This will allow you to remain flexible as conditions evolve.
- Retooling business continuity (BC) and disaster recovery (DR) plans is a high priority
Nearly all respondents (97%) plan to adjust their BC and DR plans to account for a more permanent remote working environment. And rightfully so.
When you make changes to your production environment, it’s essential that they’re reflected in your BC and DR plans. If not, it could seriously hinder your business’ ability to recover effectively.
Be sure you’re consistently conducting a business impact analysis (BIA) – this can help you uncover new or updated application interdependencies, identify third-party risk, determine the cost of downtime and evaluate the impact of new applications on your resiliency posture. Regularly test your DR plans as well so you can uncover and rectify any potential vulnerabilities.
The price of going remote
Employers and employees can agree that hybrid work makes the most sense moving forward. For many, it’s even worth leaving a couple of bucks on the table.
But this model only works if you properly support and secure your environment. If not, you’re primed for a worse experience than half a haircut – and that’s something that even a remote office can’t cover up.
