'Remote work is here to stay, and many companies hiring for hard-to-fill roles are leaning into it'
Despite moves by employers to try to get more workers back in the office, work from home continues to be popular, according to a recent report.
The number of job postings mentioning remote work is at least three times higher this year compared with data from 2019, based on a seven-day moving average as of Sept. 30 on Indeed.
This is true across five countries:
- Canada (11.2 per cent, up from 3.0 per cent in 2019)
- Germany (12.4 per cent, up from 3.7 per cent in 2019)
- United Kingdom (10.1 per cent, up from 3.0 per cent in 2019)
- United States (8.6 per cent, up from 2.9 per cent in 2019)
- France (6.1 per cent, up from 1.6 per cent in 2019)
Searching for remote work
Jobseekers, meanwhile, are still eager to land positions that allow for remote work, says the report from Indeed and Glassdoor. Remote job searches through the same period in all five countries:
- United States (9.8 per cent, up from 1.7 per cent in 2019)
- Canada (4.6 per cent, up from 0.6 per cent in 2019)
- United Kingdom (2.8 per cent, up from 0.3 per cent in 2019)
- Germany (2.8 per cent, up from 0.7 per cent in 2019)
- France (0.6 per cent, up from 0.1 per cent in 2019)
Previously, Royal Bank of Canada, AT&T, Microsoft, Google, Expedia and several other employers announced plans to bring workers back into the office. And nearly half (44 per cent) of Canadian business leaders expected their companies to require full-time, in-person work this year, according to a previous report.
“It turns out many workers don’t miss the office — but many employers do. This has led to numerous well-publicized conflicts between workers and employers, as some company leaders have tried to turn the clock back to pre-pandemic times,” says the workplace trends report.
“Despite those headlines, remote work is here to stay, and many companies hiring for hard-to-fill roles are leaning into it.”
‘New territory for employers’
The desire for workers, both men and women, to hold a remote job (13.5 per cent) is a major reason for them to look for a new job, just behind higher pay (30.5 per cent) and a chance in career path (16 per cent), according to Indeed Hiring Lab’s survey from July 2021 to February 2022.
Remote work capabilities ranked higher than being unhappy with their manager (10 per cent) in this regard.
In Canada, 80 per cent of remote workers say they would rather look for a new job if required to go back to the office full-time, according to a previous report.
“With workforces spread far and wide, employers and policymakers have much to ponder as the long-term impacts of remote work are yet to be determined, or fully felt,” say Indeed and Glassdoor in their recent report.
They admit that remote work has its ups and downs. For example, while it could “intensify economic inequality and gender roles”, it could also eliminate the commute which “has allowed workers with disabilities to find and maintain employment” and has the “potential to create much more diversity in the workforce”.
“Remote work at this scale is new territory for employers, and it is imperative they continue to monitor and adjust their policies to ensure the inclusivity, equity and diversity of their workforce,” they say.