Remote vs. presence work. Which will win the war for talent?
During the pandemic, it seemed that telecommuting was going to be permanently adopted by corporations worldwide, however, this expectation has been fading, with more and more reports of companies returning to face-to-face work. The question arises: which will win the war for talent?
The answer of course, will be decided by workers themselves, who, after having experienced the pros and cons of remote work, now have enough information to decide what they want.
What do people want?
While this is still an evolving situation, several studies indicate that a majority of workers now show a clear preference for some kind of telecommuting:
According to a survey of 209,000 people in 190 countries by Boston Consulting Group, 89% of the respondents would prefer to partially or totally work from home.
A survey conducted by the app Blind among employees from highly prestigious companies were asked if they would prefer permanently working from home or a salary increase of $30,000. A stunning 64% of them opted for the permanent telecommuting option.
According to Blind, 64% of employees from highly prestigious companies say they would prefer permanently working from home over a salary increase of $30k
Gallup, the legendary market research organization, reveals that 54% of workers claim that the would change jobs for the choice to work remotely or not.
In its Global Workspace Survey, the firm IWG discovered that over 4/5 of the respondents, when faced with two similar employment offer, they would turn down the one that didn’t offer flexible working.
In its Reimagine Work: Employee Survey, Mckinsey discovered that 63% of the Post-Pandemic respondents preferred some kind of of remote working, wether partial or total, compared to the 38% of the Pre-Pandemic answers.
According to the consultancy EY, 54% of employees globally would quit if not provided post-pandemic flexibility, based on the results from its EY 2021 Work Reimagined Employee Survey.
What does this mean for businesses?
Based on available data, it appears that companies that are abandoning teleworking will be at a clear competitive disadvantage compared to those that are encouraging it, in terms of attracting and retaining talent.
Based on available data, it appears that companies that are abandoning teleworking will be at a clear competitive disadvantage compared to those that are encouraging it, in terms of attracting and retaining talent.
How will all this develop? It is probably too early to draw conclusions, but we could theorize that even the most telecommuting-reluctant organizations will at some point be forced by market forces to implement some form of remote work in order to attract talent, risking stagnation if they don’t, unless they discover a miracle incentive capable of attracting talent to a way of working they no longer want.
If it is true that future workers will continue to choose companies that offer telecommuting over those that do not, it is reasonable to expect that at some point, the current trend will reverse and we will see a general adoption of telecommuting as a result of the law of supply and demand.
Despite having a competitive advantage, it’s not all good news for organizations that work remotely. Recruiting talent from overseas comes with new challenges.
Legal compliance, the new challenge
Companies embracing telecommuting who are starting to attract talent fron around the world are discovering a new challenge: employing talent from all over the world, also demands compliance with several foreign tax and labor laws.
HR departments are being forced to understand and comply with complex foreign tax and labor laws, which are not accustomed to, in order to provide new hires with onboarding, offboarding, payroll, incentives, performance plans, etc.
The alternatives to solve this situation seem to be twofold: to grow the HR departments or to outsource the management of employees abroad to external companies.
In any case, it is a temporary challenge. If as it seems, telecommuting is inevitable, no matter how complex, this challenge will be solved, too.
The real question is: is your company ready for the future?
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