Most Australians would like to work remotely

The majority (63%) of Australian employees would like to work remotely, with just 35% still wanting to work in the office every day of the week, research from recruitment company Randstad indicates.

A survey of over 10,000 Australian employees shows that employees value flexibility, with 36% indicating they would prefer to work remotely occasionally, compared to 15% who would like to work remotely a fixed number of days per week.

A further 12% would like to work remotely every working day, although this rises to 15% for respondents aged 45 to 65, suggesting that older employees are more likely to prefer working out of the office.

Likewise, only 9% of employees aged 18–24 indicated they would like to work from home or remotely all the time. But this age group were also slightly more likely to express a preference for working remotely a fixed number of days per week, at 16% compared to 15%.

Over half (52%) of Australians would also prefer to work flexible hours rather than the standard 9–5 working week, the survey shows.

“The work environment in Australia, like workplaces globally, is changing rapidly. Australians increasingly want to work remotely and they also want their hours to be flexible,” Randstad CEO Jacques van den Broek said.

“Australian employers, especially the larger ones that can be slower to adapt, need to sit up and take note if they are to remain attractive in the eyes of today’s employees. It’s becoming increasingly clear that companies that don’t evolve their work cultures and philosophies in line with changing consumer attitudes could soon find they’re left behind.”

Image courtesy of Sean MacEntee under CC