Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Working from homeHybrid workingLatest NewsPhysical environmentTeamworking

Employees less worried about hybrid working than leaders

by Jo Faragher 21 Apr 2021
by Jo Faragher 21 Apr 2021 Pic: Shutterstock
Pic: Shutterstock

Almost four in 10 business leaders are worried about lack of management oversight as organisations move to hybrid working, compared with just 7% of employees.

These are the findings of a survey by analyst company IDC in conjunction with IT services company Unisys, which has revealed a lack of alignment between managers and employees in terms of priorities for future working practices.

Hybrid working

Podcast: The legal aspects of moving to hybrid working

Is remote working here to stay? 

It asked more than 1,100 employees and leaders in 15 countries about the challenges and opportunities they perceived to lie ahead in hybrid working environments.

It also found that two-thirds of employees felt a work location and schedule conducive to family life was important, but only 49% of business leaders felt this way. Only 31% of business leaders thought empowering employees was crucial, compared to 51% of employees themselves.

Employees are less concerned about how they are empowered, however, with 43% reporting they require the most up-to-date technology to be productive, versus 55% of business leaders.

Concerns about the challenges of remote working differed significantly, too. Around four in 10 business leaders worry about difficulties communicating with other team members, compared to just 24% of employees.

Employees are also more comfortable about using technology at home, with only one in 10 fearful of using new or unfamiliar systems compared with 41% of leaders. Similarly, just 11% of employees worry about access to data, versus 38% of business leaders.

Despite this, two-thirds of business leaders in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region said they felt remote work was just as productive or more so than working from a company location. In response, 42% of businesses will invest in technologies to support this. Companies list 5G, ‘internet of things’, artificial intelligence and modern security platforms as providing benefits to evolving work environments in the next five years.

“One of the outcomes of 2020 has been the rapid technology, process and policy adjustments that most organisations have made to support hybrid ways of working,” said Holly Muscolino, research vice president, content strategies and the future of work at IDC.

“Across the globe, almost 40% of the workforce was forced to shift to remote ways of working almost overnight, while the remaining 60% continued to adapt and find new, safer ways to do their jobs. Now we know that, for most, there will be no return to the business models of 2019.”

She added: “Remote employees will continue to comprise almost one-quarter of the global workforce, albeit with some variability across industries. The hybrid workforce – remote, on-site, in the field and transitioning between locations – is here to stay, and the temporary changes organisations put into place throughout 2020 must become permanent going forward.”

Change management opportunities on Personnel Today

Browse more Change management jobs

Jo Faragher
Jo Faragher

Jo Faragher has been an employment and business journalist for 20 years. She regularly contributes to Personnel Today and writes features for a number of national business and membership magazines. She won the Willis Towers Watson HR journalist of the year award in 2015 and has been highly commended twice.

previous post
Just Eat serves up ‘agency worker’ model in Liverpool
next post
Three in 10 miss out on learning while hybrid working

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

Davos 2022: ‘Invest in social jobs to save...

27 May 2022

P&O Ferries boss denies reputational damage after mass...

27 May 2022

Why Can’t Managers Manage? Chris Roebuck talks to...

27 May 2022

Parliament launches UK labour market inquiry

27 May 2022

Menopausal worker loses sex and disability discrimination claim

27 May 2022

Employers must help employees ‘flourish’ post-pandemic

27 May 2022

Age remains a barrier to upskilling finds research

27 May 2022

‘Inequality is embedded in our labour market’ says...

27 May 2022

More than £1bn of upskilling loan money has...

26 May 2022

Monkeypox advice for employers: working from home and...

26 May 2022
  • Strathclyde Business School expands its Degree Apprenticeship offer in England PROMOTED | The University of Strathclyde is expanding its programmes...Read more
  • The Search for Talent: Six Major Employer Pitfalls PROMOTED | The Great Resignation continues unabated...Read more
  • Navigating the widening “Skills Confidence Gap” in 2022, and beyond PROMOTED | Cornerstone OnDemand conducted a global study...Read more
  • Apprenticeships are the solution to your recruitment problems PROMOTED | Apprenticeships have the pulling power...Read more
  • What it really means to be mentally fit PROMOTED | What is mental fitness...Read more
  • How music can help to ease anxiety at work PROMOTED | A lot has happened since March 2020, hasn’t it?...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+