Most employers are offering staff some flexibility in choosing to work between home or the office, not just in response to the pandemic but because employees are demanding it, a survey has found.
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Frog Recruitment's annual world of work survey of 600 Australasian employers, across a broad cross section of industry sectors, has found nearly two-thirds (61 percent) of employees want flexible work options.
"Notably, 85 percent say they are now open to working fully remotely for a company located in another city, highlighting our workforce's willingness to be nimble and flexible with work arrangements," Frog Recruitment managing director Shannon Barlow said.
Barlow said most employers are willing to accommodate more flexibility, with one fifth formalising such arrangements.
Employers without flexible working conditions were typically in industries such as manufacturing and other types of work requiring hands-on involvement, such as services and construction.
She said those type of industries could overcome that disadvantage with strong leadership, which was also highly rated by job seekers.
"Now, in this situation the things that we're finding are more important are around that culture and that trust, particularly with the senior leadership, and the way that they've been able to bring the team together and to really work as a team through these times and to overcome the challenges."
She said leadership was key to tackling chronic workplace stress, which was also identified as a growing problem for the workforce.
"The use of technology has played a big part in that, so that while it has been a huge benefit ... you suddenly become available 24-7, so we did find that burnouts was more of a problem because we could easily continue working from home for that extra hour or logon over the weekend."
She said leadership was required to ensure staff do not exceed healthy work levels, primarily by setting a healthy example.
"Employers and managers feel a pressure to over-perform, and many have developed work and lifestyle habits that have blurred work and home life so much that they struggle to separate the two."
Barlow said it was vital for people to feel supported, particularly as they move through alert level lockdowns and expected more changes to occur over the next six to 12 months.