Remote Working Opportunities Falling
New research conducted by Adzuna has found that remote working opportunities, which had risen considerably during the Covid-19 pandemic, are now beginning to fall in some sectors as many employers demand a return to office based working.
Analysing posts advertised on their job search engine, Adzuna found that there had been a sharp fall in the number of remote working roles advertised between October 2022 and January 2023. In the Creative and Design sector, for example, the number of remote working positions advertised fell by 6.1% from 22.1% to 16%.
Other sectors which registered falls in the number of remote working roles during the 3 month period between October 2022 and January 2023, were the IT sector, PR (down 1.5%), and the legal sector (down 0.7%)
Some sectors have witnessed an increase in remote working, however. These include admin roles (an increase of 14.7%) and teaching (12.6%)
Overall, 12.1% of all roles advertised in January 2023 involved remote working, whilst 11.3% of roles involved hybrid working.
Nevertheless, other research has found that a decline in remote working is by no means certain in 2023, and that it may even increase. Research conducted by The Conference Board, for instance, found that after interviewing 1,100 corporate executives, just 3% planned to reduce the amount of remote working available. Moreover, 5% of the corporate executives planned to expand the amount of hybrid working available
Furthermore, Gleb Tsipursky writing in Fortune Magazine points out: "Even Elon Musk, after initially ordering all Twitter staff back to the office, has now reversed course. He embraced remote work by closing Twitter’s Seattle and Singapore offices, telling all staff to work remotely....[Overall], it’s likely that 2023 will see a slight expansion of employees working remotely. These findings suggest that most companies are finding their hybrid workplace policy to be a successful solution for their organization."
Commenting upon the findings on remote working, the chief customer officer at Adzuna, Paul Lewis, states: "To date, UK workers have been resistant to the return to the office, but as the recession bites, layoffs mount up and job opportunities slow down, refusing on-site mandates is becoming higher risk. We’re seeing employers becoming firmer on return-to-office policies, following a spate of high profile mandates led by the likes of Elon Musk. Sectors like Creative & Design and IT are slowly but surely moving back to the office, in a trend we expect to see pick up through 2023."
Lewis adds: "But ....there are some very real downsides. Flexible working is of particular importance to women, who often shoulder the burden of caring needs on top of their jobs. Forcing women back to the office could cause some to quit, burnout, or force less productive working patterns, which will only widen existing gender divides further. It’s crucial that employers maintain flexible options for those that need it, even if mandating wider return-to-office policies."
Training A Vital Element In Career Progression
As we reported in a recent article, research published by Docebo found that 83% of workers regard learning and development (L&D) as a key issue when deciding upon which job offers to accept. Moreover, 66% of respondents also stated that they would consider leaving their role if the learning and development budget was reduced by their employer, as they consider it crucial in terms of career development, advancement, and promotion.
These findings have now been reinforced by new research from High Speed Training involving 1000 respondents, which found that 63% of workers view training as an essential element in their career progression.
The head of learning and development at High Speed Training, Dr Richard Anderson, stated: "Wider talent pools and increasing rates of digital skills mean that employers can reap the benefits of new hybrid working models – if they are willing to offer an attractive career bargain with prospective and existing employees. The workforce is placing greater emphasis on their own personal and career development, utilising upskilling and training to ensure that their own trajectories align to their employers....organisations must adapt to this new way of working to reap the benefits."
