By Emily Price
When it comes to hybrid work and working from home, the jury is still out for many employers on what the “right” solution might be in a post-pandemic world. But according to survey data released by the site Fiverr on Tuesday, the generation that is most interested in working from home rather than heading back to the office isn’t millennials or even Gen X—it’s baby boomers.
The survey looked at 9,129 employees and freelancers in the U.K., U.S., Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Australia, and found that, surprisingly, 40% of the baby boomers surveyed would prefer remote or flexible work, and claimed that their optimal work environment was either at home or being able to select different work locations throughout the day.
In contrast, only 29% of millennials and 32% of Gen X respondents—the generations commonly thought of as WFH enthusiasts—said they would prefer to work outside of the office. That said, the majority of respondents (76%) still said their current work arrangement required them to be in the office more than they would like.
Why do they want to work from home? According to Fiverr, 63% of workers would prefer to work from home so they can save money and time commuting to the office, while roughly a third (35%) said that it was distracting for them to work in an office space.
Across the board, however, workers thought they could and should spend less time doing their jobs.
The four-day workweek has recently gotten a bit of traction, especially in the tech space. Companies such as Buffer, Disable, Monograph, and Sprokets offer both fully remote positions and four-day workweeks for employees.
An astounding 76% of workers, the same number who said they were in the office more than they would like, said that they believed they could complete their current workload in a four-day workweek rather than the traditional five days. The four-day workweek has particular traction among millennials, the vast majority of whom (87%) said they could get their work done in four days.
One unsurprising survey result is how workers feel about meetings. Nearly half (46%) of workers whose jobs require them to collaborate with others said that they would prefer to have no more than one meeting a day.
Workers would also prefer those meetings to be in person, versus the Zoom meetings we’ve all become accustomed to over the past few years. More than half (59%) of respondents said they prefer in-person meetings to virtual ones, even if those meetings take place somewhere like a coffee shop rather than in the office. The more senior a role a person had, the more importance they appeared to put on in-person communication.
For companies trying to recruit top talent, offering flexible work schedules and fewer meetings can be just what’s needed to make a position stand out from the competition.
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