US jobseekers look for more flexibility
The modern US workforce is confident about landing quality jobs and will not settle for anything less, according to a report on ‘The State of the American Workplace’, conducted by management consulting company Gallup.
The report points to a US workforce that is actively engaging with or wants to embrace remote working, where jobseekers want a job purpose reflective of their own values and where workers have little confidence in their company’s leadership.
According to the report, the modern US workforce is willing to look and keep looking for an employer whose mission and culture reflect and reinforce their values, that has seemingly unlimited resources to help them look for a new job – far beyond classified ads and their immediate professional networks – and with the job market opening up, is increasingly optimistic about opportunities. A record 47% of the workforce thinks now is a good time to find a quality job, while just over half of employees (51%) are searching for new jobs or watching for new roles.
With technology changing the way work is carried out, the report also finds the US workforce is no longer restricted to a working day of 8am and 5pm, teams have fewer face-to-face interactions, and communicate through email, instant messaging and conference calls. Gallup found that from 2012-16, the number of employees working remotely rose by four percentage points, from 39% to 43%, and remote workers spent more time working.
And should an employee fail to find an exceptional job complementing other aspects of their life or, at a minimum, pays enough to make the 8-to-5 working day worthwhile, they are prepared to create their own job category in which they may work 20 hours a week at a contracted office gig, 20 as a ride-hailing service driver and 10 as a freelancer.
It would appear a company’s leadership has little sway on whether workers stay with a company, as the report finds employees have little belief in their company’s leadership.
Just 22% of employees strongly agree the leadership of their organisation has a clear direction for the organisation, 15% of employees strongly agree the leadership of their organisation makes them enthusiastic about the future and only 13% of employees strongly agree the leadership of their organisation communicates effectively with the rest of the organisation.
This report’s findings were against a backdrop in which only a third of employees was found to be engaged at work with over half (51%) not engaged and 16% actively disengaged, characterised by workers who are miserable in the workplace and destroy what the most engaged employees build.
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