This guest post about how remote work and millennials, comes from Stephen Seifert.
More and more people are opting for remote work, especially millennials. In fact, millennials are taking over the workforce, with over 50 million strong, having surpassed Generation X in 2015.
The rise of millennials in the workforce has made many companies restructure their working policy to include telecommuting. In fact, some millennials are forgoing the tradition 9-to-5 grind altogether, offering remote-only positions.
The World Economic Forum found that flexibility in the workplace, such as telecommuting, has led to a significant transformation in workplace. This has led to a number of questions about remote work and millennials.
Larry Alton of Forbes asked, “Will they preserve the values and characteristics that have made them such a unique addition to the workforce, or will they transform into something else entirely?”
To answer questions like these, let’s take a deeper look at the facts. The following are a few we thought were pertinent.
Millennial culture is all about being connected and maintaining independence. In fact, 85% of millennials want to work remotely full-time. millennials are simply happier working at home, a coffee shop, co-work space, library, or anywhere else not cube shaped.
They also don’t want to waste time commuting, adding more time to their workday. millennials see commute time as a waste of valuable personal time that they in many ways place more importance on than work.
With 35% of millennials ready to drop out of the traditional office habitat, companies need to pay attention for the sake of retention. Interestingly, only 12% of companies let the new workforce generation do it. This could have serious implications for netting and holding onto top Millennial talent.
Don’t think they won’t do it either. millennials place a much higher importance on their personal lives than their careers, something never seen before in the workforce. The rise in remote working job sites, like Working Nomads and We Work Remotely, has given millennials an online space to leave an office position for more remote opportunities.
Every company wants to churn more productivity out of their workforce. However, research highlighted that 86 percent of remote workers are more productive. Of course remote workers would say that. They want to continue working remotely right? Actually, 66% of managers supported the increased productivity claims remote workers have made.
Millennials are tech savvy too. They have integrated a number of productivity tools, like apps and WordPress plugins to streamline their remote work tasks. The Association for Psychological Science found that productivity is connected to how remote work is carried out and the tech used to facilitate productivity, thus increasing employee and employer success.
Work/life balance isn’t just a buzzword for millennials in the workforce, it is a must have. Remote work facilitates this need. The demand is so strong for better work/life balance global corporations on jumping aboard the remote work culture movement.
Apple, American Express, and even Deloitte have remote work programs to meet the work/life balance of top notch Millennial talent. Companies large and small are not seeing remote work as a loss of control. In fact, they see it as a potential catalyst for a better, forward-thinking company.
Now that millennials are the largest generation in the workforce, keeping them around longer is important for companies. Did you know that every time a company replaces an employee it costs between six to nine months of salary? That puts a strong emphasis on employee retention.
A company may find happier and more loyal employees if they have a remote work program in place. Thus eliminating wasted spend hiring and onboarding a new employee.
Happier, more loyal workers also lead to less stress in companies. In fact, 82% of telecommuting employees said they had lower stress levels. One study even found that 80% of remote workers had greater morale, and 69% said they are less likely to call in.
There is no stopping the remote workforce revolution. The next generation workforce wants a better work-life balance and the freedom to work from wherever, and even whenever, they want. Are companies ready to relinquish control and let the Millennial workforce work remotely 100% of the time? It is most certainly a possibility.
With nearly a decade of digital marketing and SEO experience, Stephen has developed timely content, marketing campaigns, and SEO initiatives in multiple industries including tech, crypto, blockchain, SEO, SEM, AI, fintech, business, entrepreneurship, and more. He has also collaborated with multiple industry leaders, well-known people, Fortune 500 companies, and influential entrepreneurs, among others.