Ninety percent of office workers want more flexibility to do their jobs, according to research conducted by global workspace specialists Instant Offices, who also found that almost a third of employees will look for a new employer if they have a toxic workplace culture.
If employers aren’t willing to offer their employees flexible working policies, they risk losing their experienced talent. A survey conducted by EY found that 54% of employees will leave their jobs post-pandemic if not allowed to work from home. As of this year, 67% of workers believe that their employers can successfully measure productivity regardless of whether they work at home or in the office and employers will be hard pressed to find reasons to insist their employees return to full-time office-based working.
With online job postings overtaking the number of candidates, retaining talent should be front of mind for every employer. The increased demand for work from home (WFH) and hybrid working polices is reflected in the high number of job postings offering it to potential candidates. For example, in the last 30 days, Glassdoor posted over 80,000 jobs advertised as remote work, and 490,000 jobs offered as flexible.
Lack of flexibility will drive out talent
With one in 10 companies expecting a full return to the office, competing businesses will snap up the talent who are prepared to leave their current jobs because of toxic work cultures and no offers of flexible work policies. A number of large consultancy firms and corporations have been outspoken regarding their WFH policies and have insisted their entire workforces return to work as normal, pre-pandemic.
A recent report from BreatheHR claimed that more employees are leaving due to poor workplace culture. This figure has risen from 21% in 2020, to 27% in 2021.
Having collected data and insights around the biggest signs of toxic workplaces, Lucinda Pullinger, Global Head of HR & Talent at Instant Offices urges employers to take action and discusses why it is more crucial than ever to create an inclusive and empowering workplace environment for their employees. Having collected data and insights around the biggest signs of toxic workplaces, Instant Offices highlighted the following to address:
• Constant interpersonal conflicts
• Lack of teamwork and camaraderie
• Pointing fingers and blaming others when something goes wrong
• Poor problem-solving as a team
• Exclusive cliques or social groups
• Office gossip
• Work awarded based on personal connections rather than skill
• Poor communication and lack of clarity around projects
• Inconsistent communication and mixed messages
• Unhappy, demotivated workers
• High turnover rate
• Stifled/ stagnated career progression
• Lack of work-life balance
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