People are looking for staff everywhere and yet supply and demand don’t always match up. At Working Remotely, we regularly get asked if we can help someone find a new job that allows them to work remotely. Strangely enough, it’s hard to find employers who offer you this freedom. Or they are not visible online. This is what I was discussing with recruiter Maarten Leeuwis. A few weeks ago, we posted a poll on LinkedIn to find out to what extent remote working is possible at work or at clients. We asked: ”Does your employer allow you to work remotely?”
- No – 26%
- Not yet, being discussed – 5%
- Yes, a maximum of X weeks per year – 19%
- Yes, I have full freedom – 50%
One gets a lot of freedom
There were 376 professionals participating in the poll. What immediately stands out is the high number of people who have complete freedom. Good news, you might say. Yet that is not what Maarten and I experience in the field. The first conclusion Maarten could draw after seeing the answers in the poll was that the question had been misunderstood. Because the large part (50%) of the voters indicated that they have complete freedom in the choice to work remotely, which is something that he himself as a mediator does not experience at all. Thereby, these voters work at companies that he knows are totally not the case.
Fact check
Therefore, he took a sample of these voters in which he doubted whether they actually have that complete freedom. He asked again in a private message if their employer really allows them to work abroad whenever they want. Here are some of the responses:
– ”I filled that out because I think freedom is important and it seems ideal to me to have all the freedom in that. I don’t have it at the moment, but I would like to have more room for it in the future.”
– ”No this is not allowed. Practically speaking it could be done, just don’t think it ultimately doesn’t fit the philosophy of the company.’
– ”Ow did you mean it like that, I meant that I can also work from home whenever I want.” According to the sample, a few things turn out. Namely, people do not know the difference between hybrid working and remote working, or they would like to and therefore answer like this. In addition, it also appears from the answers that ZZP’ers, see themselves as the client but that during an assignment they certainly cannot and are not allowed to work 100% remotely in all cases. Within the freedom voters, there is actually a large group who have complete freedom, a number who work for a client as a ZZP’er on an assignment completely remotely, or employees who can do this from employment. That’s good news.
By no means everyone gets freedom
You also see that 25% are not allowed to work remotely. That’s quite a hefty number. Of course, the first question is whether someone wants to, because not everyone has this need. This also applies, for example, to Maarten himself, who mainly wants to enjoy vacations when he goes abroad.
There is a good chance that remote working is not allowed because a company considers it a risk. Not only to keep the connection between them and work well together, but there are also practical concerns such as a secure connection. Which, by the way, is not to say that things are impossible, but a company should be open to exploring the possibilities. It would be too easy to slam the door shut when there is a need among professionals, especially millennials and Gen Z.
The opportunities of remote working
Alieke is the opposite. She has been working remote regularly for years and loves it. Through her workation business, she speaks daily to employers and employees who do want to work remotely. You notice that people are searching for the possibilities. Remote work offers many opportunities, such as gaining new energy, a unique experience and flexibility. Logically, there are also challenges, such as working productively and having a good workplace.
It is up to each company and each person to decide how they want to work remotely.
It would just be a shame for a company not to take advantage of the opportunities and benefits that remote working offers to people who need it.
