BLOGS
Workers can have more money or more happiness — but not both.
That’s according to a survey this week from Resume Builder that found that workers were less likely to be considered for promotions or raises if they did not work in the office at least part of the time — but that those remote workers were also more likely to report having good work-life balance.
Resume Builder, which surveyed 417 remote, 567 hybrid and 206 fully in-office workers, also found that more than three out of four in-office workers received a raise in 2023 — and half of them reported a raise of more than 10%. The remote contingent also saw raises, but not nearly to the same extent.
But for some workers, the price of those monetary benefits was increased stress. Forty-three percent of in-office workers said they were “very stressed,” while 30% of remote workers reported feeling that way. Hybrid workers were in the middle, with 37% reporting being very stressed. In-office workers had other problems, too, with 37% saying they were unhappy at their job, compared with 11% of those working remotely and 14% of those working a hybrid schedule.
“People want to have a say in how they work, but they don’t want to lose traction in their career,” Stacie Haller, chief career adviser at Resume Builder, told MarketWatch.
Haller stressed that the survey wasn’t a scientific one and that many factors must be taken into account when discussing happiness, stress or satisfaction at work.
For instance, many workers — such as people in the LGBTQ+ community, those with disabilities and those with children at home or other family responsibilities — saw value in workplace flexibility, Heller said.
In August, the New York Federal Reserve reported that most companies it surveyed “reported positive impacts of remote work on employee retention, and roughly half noted that offering remote work helped with recruiting.”
A September report from McKinsey & Co. found that, within a company, “thriving stars are more likely to flourish in hybrid and remote-working models than in the mostly in-person model.” The report showed that “thriving stars” — defined as the top 4% or so of employees who “bring disproportionate value to the company” — were more likely to be remote or hybrid workers.
Opinion: Remote workers are flexing their muscle, and the best-run companies won’t fight them
However, some managers continue to resist the idea that their employees are not sitting where the manager can see them, said Phil Kirschner, a senior expert at McKinsey.
“Most employers didn’t ask their employees before COVID-19 what they thought those people spending eight to 10 hours [at the office] wanted,” Kirschner said. “It didn’t always work for everybody all the time. Offices have a long way to go to make things better for employees to be in them.”
In its survey, Resume Builder found that 52% of in-office workers said they were looking for a new job, compared with 36% of remote workers. Nearly all remote workers — 93% — said they were happy with their arrangement, while 69% of hybrid workers and 35% of in-person workers said the same.
Watch: Looking for a fully remote job? Here’s what to keep in mind
But while developing the talents of remote workers is possible, McKinsey and Resume Builder both said that requires flexibility on the part of managers.
“For some remote workers, managers may not be helping them grow,” Haller said. Both Haller and Kirschner stressed that managers have to find ways to better identify the best talent — especially when that talent is remote.
With the Federal Reserve anticipating a U.S. unemployment rate of 4.1% at the end of next year, those looking for remote work may still have leverage.
“As much as companies say we want you all back, it’s not happening to the extent they want it to,” Haller said. “They’re losing people. You don’t want to lose your best workers because they don’t want to come to the office very day. And that’s why we’re in flux.”
Now read: Looking for a remote job? Your chances of finding one are dropping, Indeed says
When it comes to lying to job candidates, 36% of hiring managers say they do so, according to a survey by ResumeBuilder.com. Of the group, 75% say they lie during interviews, 52% say they lie in job descriptions and 24% say they lie in the offer letter.
Of those who did lie, only 24% said they lied most of the time and 25% said they don’t lie often.
“Lying to candidates undermines an organization’s integrity and is bad for business,” Stacie Haller, chief career advisor at ResumeBuilder.com, said in a press release.
“Candidates are making decisions based on the information they receive, and deceit only leads to bad outcomes for both the organization and candidate,” Haller said. “Honesty not only upholds an organization’s reputation but also is critical for cultivating success for both the company and the individuals it seeks to attract.”
Of those who say they lie, 40% said they did so about the role’s responsibilities, 39% about growth opportunities at the company and 38% about career development opportunities. Other topics hiring managers say they lied about include company culture, benefits and company commitment to social issues.
Also, among hiring managers who say they lie to candidates, 92% say they have had a candidate to whom they’ve lied to accept a job offer. Further, 55% say they have had an employee quit after discovering they were lied to.
ResumeBuilder.com’s survey included 1,060 hiring managers and took place on Aug. 2.
Roughly two-thirds (66%) of 700 financial executives who worked remotely part time said they would quit their jobs if they were forced to return to the office five days a week, according to a survey published Tuesday by Deloitte.
“Professionals — men and women alike — whose work and personal lives have been reshaped by remote work largely want to maintain flexibility even if it comes at a personal cost,” the accounting firm said in its report.
That cost may be corporate advancement, the survey suggests. More than half of respondents (52%) said they thought in-office workers were paid more. Likewise, 63% said they thought in-office workers were promoted more often, and 55% said those employees held more decision-making power.
However, the trade-off — at least for employees who care for children or elders — may be improved interpersonal relationships. Roughly three-quarters of surveyed men said work flexibility yielded improved relationships with their kids. That figure stood at 67% for women.
Caregivers with remote or hybrid work arrangements were 1.3 times more likely than non-caregivers to leave their jobs if that flexibility were taken away, Deloitte found. Further, 60% of respondents said they felt that employees with caregiver responsibilities were less likely to be promoted.
Critically, though, the survey draws a line between flexibility — the option to work from one place or another — and full-time remote work.
More than 30% of millennials and Generation X workers — who made up the vast majority of respondents — chose flexible arrangements over mandates comprising a specific number of days. Meanwhile, less than 10% said they’d favor being fully remote, Deloitte found.
“There’s a perception that employers want people in the office 100% of the time and employees don’t want to be in the office at all, and that’s not true,” Neda Shemluck, Deloitte’s U.S. financial services DEI leader, told American Banker. “The struggle is, how do you still require some in-person connectivity, and yet provide autonomy to team leaders to determine what is best for their teams?”
Flexibility, too, outranked pay as a draw in some circumstances. About 35% of respondents who said they could leave in the next 12 months said they would do so for a job with more flexibility, compared with 34% for better pay or benefits.
Looking at mandated in-office time frames, employees seem to recognize the cost-benefit pendulum. Roughly 18% said they preferred to work from the office three or four days a week, yet 62% said they felt it would be bad for their careers if they came in less. It should be noted the respondents were manager-level executives through senior leadership just below the C-suite.
Still, workplaces should take care if they have time mandates or if they change policy, Shemluck said.
“If an organization is mandating hybrid for one or two days, there needs to be transparency around the implications to you as an employee or as a team leader if you are tracking differently from that,” Shemluck said. “Right now the challenge is the speculation as to the career impact that will have, without the transparency of long-term implications.”
Banks have been split since early in the COVID-19 pandemic over the virtues of full-time in-office work versus flexibility. While JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley took a harder line, Citi was quick to institute a hybrid policy.
But gray areas exist. Citi isn’t universally flexible: The bank in June told managers to consider compliance with company rules — including attendance — when designing pay packages. And JPMorgan isn’t singularly pro-office: The bank told its managing directors in April it expects them in the office every weekday, but that edict saw passionate pushback from employees.
Regardless, more than half of hybrid workers told Deloitte they feel pressure to go into the office more often.
Companies with a strong contingent of female leadership may take heed: 45% of women surveyed said they were likely to leave their jobs in the next year if their flexibility were suddenly limited. Similarly, 70% who reported a high degree of flexibility said they planned to stay with their current employer for the next three years or more.
Shemluck suggested employers should maintain a level of flexibility in policy-making: that is, to be willing to change incrementally, or often, along with sentiment.
“You have to take small steps and constantly do pulse checks and get real reactions as to what is working, and recognize that you’re going to constantly pivot,” Shemluck said. “We had hundreds of years of working one way; it’s going to take us a long time to get comfortable with this new way of working, and it’s going to be an iterative process.”
Blog Written By: Dan Ennis From Banking Dive
Recently unemployed US job seekers in the US are experiencing a massive case of job-hunt burnout amid prolonged searches without any offers, according to staffing firm Insight Global.
More than half of recently unemployed adults surveyed, 55%, say they’ve been searching for a new job for so long that they are “completely burnt out,” according to the Insight Global survey. Recently unemployed workers also say they have applied to an average of 30 jobs and have only received an average of four callbacks or responses.
“It’s no wonder that so many unemployed Americans are feeling unmotivated — between several years of a volatile job market, headcount reductions, budget cuts, hiring freezes and a total overhaul of the way companies are running their businesses, it can feel downright impossible to get back on track,” Insight Global CEO Bert Bean said in a press release.
Gen Z is getting hit the hardest with 66% of this cohort saying they’re burnt out, according to the survey. That’s the highest percentage of any generation.
Some workers are so depleted by the job search that they’re taking other steps to make or save money, according to Insight Global’s survey:
- 43% said they feel there is no shame or prefer to live at home with their parents.
- The same percentage, 43%, said they would rather create an Etsy business or resell thrifted items than send out another blast of résumés.
- More than a third, 36%, would rather drive for a delivery or rideshare service than continue what appears to be a fruitless search.
- Some Gen Z job seekers — 44% — would rather get a “sugar daddy” or “sugar mommy.”
Insight Global’s survey took place in July and included 501 recently unemployed adults who had been unemployed for 12 months or less and who were actively seeking employment.