The key to preventing workers from quitting is hybrid work
Millennials want two things to stay: high-waist jeans and hybrid work. In both trends, they have cross-generational support.
“Millennials are very attuned to the benefits of a hybrid work model,” said Rob Falzon, vice chairman of Prudential Financial, in its latest report. The gap between the generations is growing: work and money prospects are divided. He noted that their status as the largest generation in the workforce and their penchant for flexibility will make hybrid work a staple.
That could be a good thing for employers, considering the majority of hybrid workers (70%) said they have a strong sense of loyalty to the company, Prudential found after surveying more than 4,700 adults. On the other hand, 64% of employees with personal contact and only 59% of telecommuters feel similarly loyal to their employer.
Perhaps the gap lies in the fact that hybrid employees are also more likely to be satisfied with their salary and their individually tailored benefits, according to the study.
Because hybrid workers are often happier with their pay, they may be less prone to job hopping, which is an increasingly popular avenue for workers at a time when more and more people are struggling to make ends meet – a trend that is is particularly popular with younger generations, per Prudential.
While many large employers want workers back at their desks five days a week, hybrid policies are often the middle ground they strike to appease workers who want the flexibility of remote work and supervisors who want workers back at theirs want to have desks at work.
Data from Work From Home Research shows that hybrid work is not just an outlier in workforce development trends. The researchers found that the benefits of hybrid work include happier employees, better productivity, greater diversity, equality and inclusion, and potential better use of space. While remote work is a newfound desire, the study found that most employees only want to work remotely no more than three days a week. And most employees have embraced hybrid work in such a way that they appreciate the flexibility of the policy as well as an 8% pay increase.
“By 2023, we’re going to laugh at anyone who does anything other than hybrid,” said Nick Bloom, a Stanford economist and researcher at WFH Research assets Jane Thier.
And previous research from software company Citrix showed that hybrid knowledge workers are more likely than their remote or full-office colleagues to engage with their peers in ways that make them happier and more productive. They also said they were more connected to their leaders.
It turns out that even with a potentially looming recession, hybrid work is still the most popular policy for most workers. And if companies want their employees to stay close, they might want to keep their eyes out of them three days a week.
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