The latest survey takes a look at flexible working, as workers in the UK are on the verge of returning to offices full or part time after 18 months of mainly working at home for many.
The research shows a resoundingly clear message that employers need to prioritise flexible working going forward.
Key findings include:
- 52% would turn down a job offer if the company didn’t offer the flexible working they required to maintain a work/life balance
- 50% said they would quit a job they already had if it didn’t offer them what they needed flexibility-wise
- 83% said that working from home more would benefit their mental health
- 82% of the women we surveyed said they would give up work while raising their children if their employer did not support them with flexibility
Andrea Thompson, Editor-in-Chief of Marie Claire, said: “A year on from our first Future of Work survey with LinkedIn, what is clear from the latest research is that employers must acknowledge that flexibility is vital if they want to retain female talent and achieve genuine gender equality at work. The alternative is women dropping out of the workforce at critical points in their career journeys.”
“While our study focussed specifically on women’s opinions, equality in the workplace can only happen when flexibility is perceived as something for all – women, men, parents and non-parents. Why should caring responsibilities or work/life balance be perceived as a concern solely for women?”
Janine Chamberlin, UK Country Manager at LinkedIn, said: “We know that the pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on women and their careers – we can see it clearly in this research with Marie Claire and on our platform where women have come together over the last eighteen months to share their experiences, advice and support.”
“Encouraging staff to work flexibly if it suits them should be a top priority for employers, especially if they want to retain and nurture top female talent. In this new world of work, for employers to remain attractive it’s going to be important for them to evolve their workplace policies to offer greater flexibility which people now expect, remove masculine-coded language from job descriptions which we know can put off female candidates from applying, and consider their benefits to allow for a better work-life balance.”
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