Indeed.com hosted Indeed Interactive recently with one very notable difference: It was held online. Conference attendees talked about employment during the last year, and it mirrored many of our experiences.
Pawel Adrjan and Daniel Culbertson, Indeed’s labor economists, gave their predictions for the future of work, focusing on work from home.
Job postings on Indeed.com with some mention of working from home have continued to grow, tripling from early 2020 to now.
On the employee side, job seeker interest in remote work remains high. Indeed is able to measure the interest in remote work by the searches on its site. From early 2020 to now, job seeker searches for remote work have more than doubled.
What happens after the COVID pandemic is over? Indeed looked in areas in which cases of COVID have been low and economies have reopened, finding interest in remote work remains high, even after an economic recovery.
This represents a shift in long-term preferences, Indeed contends, and job seekers will continue to demand remote work even after the completion of the pandemic.
But do employers intend for work from home to be permanent or temporary?
Indeed found that 61% of remote job postings in the UK were listed as temporarily remote. Companies expect employees to eventually come in person.
This also means 39% of jobs posted as remote will be permanently remote, an increase from pre-pandemic postings. In other words, we have realized that remote work is sustainable long term.
Gayle King also interviewed actor Matthew McConaughey about his career. He shared the challenge of pivoting careers and going all in when you’re trying something new.
Your “life is your resume,” McConaughey explained, with no one defining moment. You are all of the pieces of your combined experience. And the pandemic, he added, brought him closer to the things in life that are most important to him.
McConaughey is now able to participate in video meetings in three countries in the morning, and then have lunch with his wife and children at his home in Texas.
Remote work has created a new culture. It is no longer rude to have a video call; it’s a necessity. And, this necessity has allowed him to prioritize the things that are truly the most important, he adds.
Here’s the takeaway for hiring managers: In order to remain competitive, you must consider flexible work environments. Remote work will be more prevalent and will remain attractive to job seekers.
This flexibly is what you’re now competing against.
Angela Copeland, a career expert and founder of Copeland Coaching, can be reached at copelandcoaching.com.