Millennials seek flexible working options

A growing number of millennials, known to be more fickle and likely to spend less time at one organisation unlike previous generations, would like to have flexible working options at the workplace, a survey found.

The Future of Flexible Working Survey, a survey conducted by employment portal Shine.com, found out that 60% of millennials wanted flexible working options to maintain a healthy work-life balance, but less than half of them think their organisation has the right culture to support flexible working arrangements—75% said organisations must offer options such as work-from-home.

The survey had more than 1,200 respondents from sectors such as marketing and advertising, banking, IT, sales, and finance. Close to 70% of respondents were between 22-30 years old.

About 14% of respondents listed avoiding traffic as a key reason for flexible working policies; 6% said they would like to save on the cost of commute by working from home. About 40% of respondents said they would like to have flexible working hours every day, but only 10% said they would like to work from home every day. About 25% of respondents preferred the work-from-home option just once or twice a month.

However, flexible working options could engender problems like lack of coordination between employees, lack of visibility, and appreciation for the effort put in by employees. While working from home, employees could continue attending calls and checking emails even after stipulated office hours. Because of this, the study said, it becomes more important that human resources teams work out policies to avoid worker burnout.