Welcome to the latest WorkSpace Connect News Wrap, our regular recap of the news related to the modern workplace, the professionals that make it happen, the products and services that enable it, and the research to inform workplace and workforce strategies. In this edition, we explore research into the Great Resignation and how compensation strategies are factoring into retaining and recruiting talent , then share a pair of surveys on workplace trends forming around hybrid work.
Workplaces Retool Compensation Strategies to Address Turnover, Recruiting
This week, compensation software company Payscale shared research provides insight on where we stand with The Great Resignation and how compensation factors into it.
In its "
2022 Compensation Best Practices Report," Payscale found that 76% of organizations have experienced both labor shortages and difficulties attracting talent in 2021, and 49% of organizations say voluntary turnover has increased since 2020.
To respond to the Great Resignation, workplaces are looking at pay raises for 2022 and retooling their compensation strategy. This year, 92% of organizations said they'll be doing pay increases, up from 85% in 2021 and 67% in 2020. Additionally, 44% of workplaces say they are losing talent due to pay concerns.
Additionally, organizations weighed in on a host of other remote work-related issues and how they might impact their compensation strategies. For instance, 74% said that remote work won't be a driving factor for changing their compensation strategy, while 40% of organizations are interested in using location-based pay schemes (see related article:
Enjoy WFH? Here’s Your Pay Cut).
Steelcase Shares Latest Workplace Research
This week, office furniture company
Steelcase shared findings from its latest survey, titled “The New Era of Hybrid Work,” which shed light on several unfolding workplace trends and provides perspective on where we are in the future-of-work debate.
In the survey, Steelcase interviewed approximately 5,000 workers across the globe about how they feel about various aspects of their workplace. When it came to what working model employees wanted the most, 45% of those surveyed preferred working from home and 21% favored working from the office, while 34% had no preference. Despite this split, 87% of surveyed employees said that they will be spending at least some of the week working from the office (i.e., working in a hybrid fashion).
Steelcase shared several other key findings from the research, which included:
- Employees who like going to an office are often more engaged and productive: For those who are satisfied with their office and like working in it, Steelcase found that workers are 33% more engaged, 30% more connected to the workplace, 20% less likely to leave, and 9% more productive.
- Private spaces are increasingly important as more work is video-based: When it comes to what employees value most in the office, 64% of respondents said collaboration space.). Additionally, 62% of employees value single-person enclave for video calls, and 61% said access to private workspaces.
- Workers are willing to trade work-from-home days for control over the office environment: Historically, many workplaces favored hotdesking solutions and open floor plans as a way to boost workplace flexibility. However, this might be changing in a hybrid work world. People are unambiguous about prioritizing control over their working space. When survey respondents were offered a choice: would they rather work from home two days a week if they could have an assigned office space the other three, or work from home three days a week but have an unassigned desk in the office the other two, 55% of respondents chose the former.
"It's not enough to simply re-open the office doors and offer a hybrid work policy," said Chris Congdon, director of global research communications. "Today's office needs to earn the commute of employees. We've learned from those who have returned that their wants and needs have fundamentally shifted. The office needs to support the new ways people work while helping to create a sense of community where people belong and feel valued."
