Workplace Flexibility More Important to Workers Than a Pay Rise

Employers need to form post-pandemic working arrangements that appeal to the best staff

TRUMBULL, Conn.--()--The freedom to work flexibility is now more important to workers than a pay rise. Questionmark, the online assessment provider, is calling on employers to shape post-pandemic working arrangements which will help them retain the best staff.

Over half (51%) of employees say job flexibility is more important to them than salary when making job choices, according to a new report by United Kingdom (UK) law firm, Winckworth Sherwood.1 In the United States (US), 55% of workers have expressed their desire to work remotely for most of the week, according to research by professional services firm PwC.2

Questionmark has released a new report exploring how employers can make the best decisions on the right post-pandemic working arrangements.

The report, “Managing a post-pandemic workforce: creating productive and informed working arrangements”, highlights the risk that workers could leave their jobs for better working arrangements if they cannot continue to work flexibly from home.

When things look brighter, the staff with the most sought-after skills will be the most likely to move on. To anticipate this, employers must inform workers what their future working arrangements will be before the pandemic ends.

To get the information to form the right working policy, Questionmark is encouraging employers to ask and answer three crucial questions:

  1. Which skills are going to be important for future success?
  2. Which of these skills and associated tasks can be effectively executed from home?
  3. What tasks are best performed in the office or workplace?

Measuring staff skills with online assessments can indicate which tasks can be done well from home and which can’t. This information can help employers make the best decision and to communicate their decision to the workforce.

Lars Pedersen, CEO of Questionmark, said: “No working policy will be greeted with universal approval. Research shows there’s a huge disparity among workers around what they want. But when a decision is explained and evidenced, people are far more likely to cooperate.

“Measuring workforce skills with assessments helps employers make an informed decision and explain it to workers.”

For more information download the full report: “Managing a post-pandemic workforce: creating productive and informed working arrangements".

The report forms part of the “Questionmark Viewpoint” series which explores the challenges that Questionmark customers face, and how Questionmark helps address them.

www.questionmark.com

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Notes to editors

About Questionmark

Questionmark unlocks performance through reliable and secure online assessments.

Questionmark provides a secure enterprise-grade assessment platform and professional services to leading organizations around the world, delivered with care and unequalled expertise. Its full-service online assessment tool and professional services help customers to improve their performance and meet their compliance requirements. Questionmark enables organizations to unlock their potential by delivering assessments which are valid, reliable, fair and defensible.

Questionmark offers secure powerful integration with other LMS, LRS and proctoring services making it easy to bring everything together in one place. Questionmark's cloud-based assessment management platform offers rapid deployment, scalability for high-volume test delivery, 24/7 support, and the peace-of-mind of secure, audited U.S., Australian and European-based data centers.

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1
http://hrnews.co.uk/job-security-and-flexibility-now-more-valuable-than-salary/
2 https://www.pwc.com/us/en/library/covid-19/us-remote-work-survey.html

Contacts

For more information:
US: Kristin Bernor, external relations: Kristin.bernor@questionmark.com +1 203.349.6438
UK: James Boyd-Wallis: james.boyd-wallis@fourteenforty.uk +44 7793 021 607
Australia and New Zealand: Chelsea Dowd: chelsea.dowd@questionmark.com +61 2 8073 0527

Contacts

For more information:
US: Kristin Bernor, external relations: Kristin.bernor@questionmark.com +1 203.349.6438
UK: James Boyd-Wallis: james.boyd-wallis@fourteenforty.uk +44 7793 021 607
Australia and New Zealand: Chelsea Dowd: chelsea.dowd@questionmark.com +61 2 8073 0527