Global Workplace Survey: January 2019 – flexibility and productivity

The International Workplace Group (IWG), a British organization, conducted a global workplace survey in January 2019, releasing the results in March 2019. IWG canvassed the opinion of more than 15,000 people across 80 nations.

The study’s respondents define flexibility as work options outside 9:00-5:00 working hours, combinations of in-and-out of main office locations, workers being able to manage their own workloads, and being able to choose the type of work location.

Eighty percent (80%) of survey respondents said that, given two similar job offers, they would reject the job that did not offer flexible work options.

IWG found that 62% of businesses worldwide currently have a flexible workplace policy, with 85% of respondents indicating that productivity has increased in their business as a result of greater flexibility.

IWG lists the following countries with flexible workplace policies, in order of responding businesses: Germany (80%), Netherlands (75%), Australia (71%), United States of America (69%), Canada (68%), United Kingdom (68%), Brazil (67%), South Africa (62%), Spain (61%), France (60%), Italy (59%), India (585), Mexico (55%), Belgium (53%), China (51%), and Japan (32%).

Australia, Canada, UK, Germany, India, USA, France, and the Netherlands are the top countries that use flexible workspace policies to attract and retain top talent. Consultancy firms and Information Communication Technology (ICT) firms are the sectors that are most likely to have flexible work policies.

The main reason for wanting a flexible workplace policy is for work-life balance and to reduce the stress of travelling to and from work during peak hour traffic. The survey also showed that returning mothers gain more benefits from flexible workplace options.

For businesses, in addition to improved productivity, becoming more agile and rapidly scalable is a reason for introducing flexible workplace options. This is particularly the case in the following countries: Germany (68%), Australia (67%), France (66%), Belgium (63%), India (61%), Netherlands (59%), USA (59%), Canada (57%), and South Africa (51%).

Globally, 60% of businesses still report challenges in changing from a non-flexible working culture to a flexible one, with business leaders in Spain, Argentina, Mexico, South Korea, and Italy highlighting the most challenges.

In addition to changing the culture, other challenges include: (1) technology requirements, (2) privacy concerns, (3) data security, (4) financial and logistical requirements for relocating employees, (5) security of employees, (6) cost of renting flexible workspaces, (7) lack of understanding the benefits of flexible working, (8) lack of availability of suitable flexible working providers in particular locations, (9) difficulty exiting long-term existing rental contracts, and (10) companies prefer their own offices.

IWG also found that there is still a degree of unrealistic mutual understanding between employees (workers) and employers (businesses) regarding the definition of ‘flexible working’ options.

MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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