Over 40% of companies plan to increase remote working hires: Report

Given that more executives expect flexible and remote work to grow, the pool of remaining roles will decline significantly over the coming years.

More than 40 percent of companies plan to increase remote working hires in the next two years, compared to 37 percent who have done so since the start of the pandemic in 2020, according to a report by information technology giant Infosys.

Managers and senior executives have on a large scale opted for flexible work rather than in a set schedule, said the Future of Work 2023 report. Around 59 percent of the respondents, from mid-managers to the C-suite executives, work primarily in a flexible or remote space currently.

When asked which work arrangements they expect will grow in the future, 73 percent listed flexible or remote workspaces.

The survey of 2,500 senior executives and managers across 12 industries by Infosys Knowledge Institute involved workplace and workforce planning for large companies across the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, France, and Germany. The survey was conducted between July and August 2022.

The sample showed 20 percent of employees work from home on average, with the UK at the highest 22 percent and France at the lowest 17 percent.

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The report distinguished between flexible and remote work, the two workstyles that make up hybrid work. Flexible work is the flexibility in deciding the work location (office/home), work hours (number of hours each day), and the choice of tools/ devices. The latter mostly permanently work from a fixed desk.

“Generally, most companies will have a hybrid working model. They will also choose to retain some remote working staff as well. And the hybrid working model will change from company to company,” Rajesh Varrier, Executive Vice President (EVP) and Head of Digital Experience and Microsoft Business at Infosys, told Moneycontrol.

Senior executives tend to work more flexibly

Contrary to expectations, Infosys data showed that the shift to remote working has taken hold in the top levels of organisations. Senior executives and managers tend to work more flexibly and remotely than most of their staff. These executives revealed that 38 percent of their staff also work away from the office.

This number comprises individuals, who work from home, or are involved in field services such as repair engineers, sales executives, delivery drivers and so on. About 15 percent of these employees work in specialist facilities, such as factories, laboratories, hospitals and logistics centres.

In these areas, physical presence is a must, and remote or flexible working may never take hold given the need to attend to specific equipment or physical goods. This leaves almost half of the employees (47 percent) currently based in central or branch offices.

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Given that more executives expect flexible and remote work to grow, the pool of remaining roles will decline significantly over the coming years. The employee proportions in various work settings — corporate, non-corporate, or specialised facilities — differ by region. Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, and the US have parallel proportions, possibly because of similarities in their economies.

Life sciences and insurance lead in WFH

Most industry sectors display similar patterns in the proportion of employees working from a corporate setting (45 percent-48 percent), a non-corporate setting (37 percent-39 percent), or a specialised facility (14 percent-18 percent).

Certain industries stand out. For instance, manufacturing and retail/hospitality have the lowest proportions of employees working from home (34 percent), given the nature of their work.

Conversely, life sciences and insurance industries have more employees in a non-corporate setting than in a corporate. Many employees in life sciences also remain in the field, most likely in sales roles.

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Life sciences, insurance, and financial services have high proportions of Work-From-Home (WFH) employees.

“This is most likely related to the type of work that is undertaken – and that highly qualified professionals carry out. Not only can they be trusted to work from home, but they have much more negotiating power, given the scarcity of their skills,” the report said.

Gig work becoming popular

The concept of gig work is gaining momentum across the world. According to the report, the most dramatic changes have been in France and Germany, where the percentage of gig workers is expected to surge to 26 percent and 20 percent of the total workforce, respectively, in the next two years.

This is compared to gig worker levels of 13 percent for both countries two years ago. In the UK, gig workers has jumped to 16 percent from 9 percent two years ago. This trend seems to be cooling as respondents do not expect any further increase in gig work in the UK in the next two years. The US, and Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) will not experience much change.

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Both regions had high levels of gig workers to start with. ANZ had the highest proportion at 16 percent, and the US had 13 percent two years ago. This has remained flat and is expected to remain that way for some time. Both expect a slight increase in full-time work.

“The key part is about the diversity of the talent pool. Companies which focus on diverse talent pools are predicted to have better outcomes in terms of their profitability and growth,” Varrier said.