With the shackles of lockdown long gone, your workers are dreaming of working from anywhere (read: on the beach with a rosé in one hand, while responding to emails with the other).
According to a global survey of 35,000 workers by Randstad, 71% of workers think the ability to work from anywhere is important. Equipped with the tools to work remotely and the knowledge that productivity and creativity go up with flexibility, workers aren’t being fooled into thinking the old way of working was better.
For employers, giving their workers the freedom to work from anywhere in the world might sound like a far-fetched notion and logistical nightmare. Really, it’s a tangible management tool that businesses are already adopting. Most recently, Airbnb and Spotify joined the growing list of companies to announce that they’re tapping into the WFA trend.
Airbnb employees will be able to live and work abroad for up to 90 days a year because it wants “to hire and retain the best people in the world,” its chief executive, Brian Chesky, wrote in a blog post on its website. The only caveat being that for tax purposes, workers still need a permanent address and it will be their responsibility to get the proper authorisation like working visas in order.
Meanwhile, Spotify's 6,500-strong workforce has been told they can work from “anywhere they wish” - including in another country. No Spotify office nearby? Not a problem. The music streaming company will subscribe workers to co-working space memberships.
Don’t be alarmed, if your firm suddenly sounds like a Dickensian workhouse in comparison to these remote-first firms. In reality, such a holistic take on the concept is unusual. The standard view is that great company culture and collaboration require some in-person working. But many companies are now adding a fixed "work from anywhere" policy to bolster their hybrid working pattern.
With hybrid working, four-day weeks and "gemba days" becoming normal, being able to work from anywhere for a few weeks of the year seems like a reasonable extension to current remote working offerings.
Yet, over half of those surveyed by Randstad revealed that they didn't have the flexibility to work from anywhere in their current roles and two in five have no control over their working hours. Meanwhile, data also consistently shows that workers under 45-years-old are prepared to quit to find a role that offers the flexibility they crave.
It won't take your stifled staff members long to find a more modern workplace. Currently on Linkedin alone, there are around 16,000 "work from anywhere" roles in Britain.
Ultimately, if the thought of your workers responding to an email from a rooftop bar in New York or a Mediterranean beach raises the hairs on the back of your neck, it’s time for a reality check.
In a hybrid working world, you can never truly know where any worker is at all hours of the day. With the current heatwave in Britain, it’s not impossible that a handful of your employees are already secretly working from Dorset or a London lido for a day or two.
Because really, when workers are trusted enough to work remotely, they are measured on output and results, over where they’re working.
So who cares if sometimes it's on a beach abroad?
Image credit: Anna Mardo via Getty Images
