A new survey from Breeze has found that 15% of workers would be willing to take a 25% pay cut if business leaders allowed them to continue to work remotely.
An even larger 65% of employees would take a 5% pay cut to stay working form home, the report from the Nebraska-based insurance company found, while nearly 40% would be willing to give up their health benefits and 44% would forgo dental coverage.
The figures signal a major change in how workers now view on-prem offices and highlights the increasing value employees place on a better lifestyle balance.
It also follows a 2020 report from research and advisory firm Gartner that showed more than 80% of company leaders said their organizations planned to permit employees to work remotely at least part of the time once the COVID-19 pandemic passed.
Jon Swift, a regional vice president for the global talent solutions firm Robert Half, said: “In the past 16 months they’ve had time to adapt to this new lifestyle.
“People who might not be that interested in working from home before are now resistant to the idea of going back to the office.”
The study also revealed that 6% of workers would give up a quarter of their paid time off in exchange for being able to work remotely.
Swift said many people are prepared to jump ship if their current employer won’t let them continue to work from home.
“I was talking to a job candidate the other day whose employer is in Pasadena.
“During the pandemic, he moved a couple hours away to the Inland Empire. But now his company wants him to come back to the office.”
He said the candidate has gone from being “happily employed” to looking for a new job that will either be closer to where he lives or offer remote work.
“He’ll get it,” he said. “It’s a candidate’s market.”
