2015: Employees Feel Surprisingly Trusted but Inefficiencies Abound in How We Work
A surprising 9 out of 10 full-time U.S. employees believe their boss trusts them to get their job done regardless of where and when they do their work. And, while additional data indicates employees have become upbeat about their increasingly flexible workplaces, inefficiencies abound in how workers use technology and communicate, and there is a lack of training and infrastructure available to support flexible work.
These are among the key findings from a national probability telephone survey commissioned by Flex+Strategy Group/Work+Life Fit, Inc. (FSG/WLF), co-sponsored by Citrix, and conducted by ORC International (+/- 4 percent margin of error). Other findings include:
- One-third of full-time workers telecommute—mostly men, but women are gaining ground
- We turn to technology more than each other; young people like to meet more than boomers
- Technology aids working flexibly and in teams, but backlash is noted especially among men
- Almost everyone has work life flexibility, but most don’t receive training or guidance to use it effectively
With the growth of telework and open office environments combined with the ongoing introduction of new technology, work life flexibility is naturally embedded in today’s workplaces. But we’re stuck in the 1990s with outdated work and management practices that, along with lack of training and infrastructure, put recent investments in workplace innovation at risk and could erode the current reservoir of employee goodwill.
