This Future Forum Pulse Study shows a growing divide in how executives and employees envision the future of work, threatening employee satisfaction and retention. This is particularly the case for women, working parents and minority ethnic groups. The majority of executives reported designing the post-pandemic workplace with little to no direct input from employees.
Findings from the Pulse survey show marked differences between executives and employees—from return-to-office preferences to perceptions of transparency to employee experience and how workers are feeling.
Most executives (66%) report they are designing post-pandemic workforce policies with little to no direct input from employees.
While two-thirds of executives (66%) believe they’re being “very transparent” regarding their “post-pandemic” policies, less than half of workers (42%) agree.
Of those currently working fully remotely, nearly half of all executives surveyed (44%) want to work from the office every day, compared to 17% of employees (2.6x difference). And 75% of these executives say they want to work from the office three to five days a week, versus only 34% of employees.
Executive overall job satisfaction is now 62% higher than non executives, driven by higher scores on flexibility (+51%), sense of belonging (+52%), work-life balance (+78%) and work-related stress and anxiety (+114%).
The battle for talent
As executives finalize return-to-office plans amid an intensifying war for talent, now is the time for careful action.
More than half of knowledge workers—57%—are open to looking for a new job in the next year. And for those who aren’t satisfied with the level of flexibility they have in their current role, the number is substantially higher (71%).
In the U.S., people of color and working parents are greater flight risks—66% of Hispanic employees, 64% of Black employees and 63% of Asian employees say they’re interested in new opportunities, compared to 56% of white employees.
Sixty-two percent of working dads and 60% of working moms are open to a job switch, compared to 56% of female employees and 51% of male employees without kids.
A call for workplace inclusion
The desire for flexible work is strongest among women, working parents and employees from minority ethnic groups, who have shown gains in employee experience scores while working remotely.
Eighty-seven percent of Asian respondents and 81% of Black respondents want flexible or hybrid work, compared to 75% of white respondents.
Eighty-five percent of women currently working fully remotely want flexible or hybrid work, compared to 79% of men.
In particular, since the broad adoption of remote-work policies, employee experience scores for Black knowledge workers have risen most sharply, with Black men making the biggest quarter-over-quarter gains in employee experience out of all demographic groups in the U.S.