More employers considering remote and hybrid work arrangements
Ken Pelczarski | TLT Career Coach May 2022
Flextime is a top priority for job seekers in today’s competitive hiring and retention environment.
Note: In the survey results in this article, views expressed are those of the respondents and do not reflect the opinions of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers. STLE does not vouch for the technical accuracy of opinions expressed in this article, nor does inclusion of a comment represent an endorsement by STLE.
Remote work arrangements always have existed in lubricants and other industries, especially for sales positions in which employees perform much of their work away from the office. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, employers began to employ as many remote workers as possible due to CDC guidelines and efforts to maximize employee safety.
A big question now is whether remote work is a passing trend or a necessary way for employers to compete and conduct business effectively. I am surmising from my recruiting experience, my recent lubricant industry surveys and many studies I have read that remote work is here to stay at a greater level than pre-pandemic.
Most industry surveys you read today conclude that flextime is at or near the top of the list of what is important to job candidates. Remote and hybrid work is a large sub-category of flextime, which is why employers are doing their best to accommodate these requests from both current employees and job candidates.
This article is a follow up to my March 2021 Career Coach column titled, “Would you make a great remote employee?” Much more data has come out from various surveys since that time, including my own lubricant industry survey in September 2021 (18 months after the start of the pandemic), in which I asked 22 multiple choice questions and one open-ended question.
Some survey questions from September 2021 are the basis for subject matter in this article. Opinions on remote and hybrid work were gathered within this survey of more than 600 lubricant industry professionals from which I received 55 responses. My survey questions focused a great deal on what employers were experiencing during the second half of 2021 versus pre-COVID-19.
I want to thank every person who responded to this confidential survey. Your responses have been the primary basis for my Career Coach columns in the January, March and May 2022 issues of TLT, and also were the basis for my PowerPoint presentation, “State of the lubricant industry pandemic job environment,” that I presented on Nov. 8, 2021, at the STLE Lower Ohio River Valley Section (please email me if you would like a copy of this presentation).
Survey respondents to the questions here are composed of key decision-makers (i.e., company owners and middle- to upper-level managers) as well as sales, marketing and technical professionals with varying levels of decision-making authority.
Survey questions, respondent comments and data analysis related to remote and hybrid work are covered here.
Do you expect your company to employ more remote and/or hybrid workers in 2022 than pre-COVID-19?
4 of 51 (8%) said, “Significantly more than pre-COVID-19.”
21 of 51 (41%) said, “A little more than pre-COVID-19.”
22 of 51 (43%) said, “About the same as pre-COVID-19.”
4 of 51 (8%) said, “Less than pre-COVID-19.”
Respondent comments
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Outside of salespeople, we do not work remotely. However, we are doing a lot more business by Zoom than pre-COVID-19. I am not sure we will ever go back to business traveling as we did before.
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We have closed several offices and changed to remote (home offices). Some new positions will be work from home; some positions will be for office.
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Salespeople will predominately work from home offices. Marketing and accounting will have more flexibility to occasionally work from home as needed.
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We expect to employ more salespeople that will work remotely.
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The world has changed, but my company has not grasped this change. There will be more remote people in the future; we just need to accept this.
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Employees in sales and marketing have the option to use home offices.
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Extremely difficult to attract talent. Struggled to get candidates for general manager role, and many were not interested in relocating at this unusual time (ultimately re-hired former employee through new hybrid work arrangement).
Data summary: 25 of 51 respondents (49%) stated they expect to employ more remote and/or hybrid workers in 2022 than first happening out of necessity at the heart of the pandemic is continuing at a heightened level because of the workability and value of remote work being recognized by both employers and individual employees.
Is your company open to employing remote and/or hybrid workers for the following types of positions? (Number of employers mentioning each type of position out of 51 respondents.)
Sales (35)
Marketing (21)
Executives (13)
Operations management (4)
Chemists and lab technicians (2)
Research scientists (4)
N/A (15)
Technical service (10)
Engineers (3)
Environmental/health/safety (11)
Information technology (12)
Human resources (10)
Office/administrative (12)
Respondent comments
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All positions that don’t include lab work.
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Sales will remain virtual as before. Other positions will reduce remote and hybrid work to near 2019 levels with some limited case exceptions.
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Depends on the role responsibilities and the individual.
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All positions except for chemists, lab technicians and research scientists who have little choice but to be in the office, as that is where the equipment resides.
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Research scientists will be employed on a contractual basis and will probably work remotely.
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We have transitioned sales; marketing; executives; technical service; environmental, health and safety; IT; and human resources from fully onsite to fully or partly remote work environments.
Data summary: The highest number of respondents by far (35 of 51, 69%) stated they were most open to sales positions being remote. However, significant numbers of respondents were quite open to other types of roles being handled remotely or in a hybrid fashion (e.g., marketing – 21 of 51, 41%, and executives – 13 of 51, 25%). In fact, each of the 12 types of positions listed previously were mentioned by at least a few employers as being possible remote roles. This indicates that many employers are open to considering traditionally onsite roles to be remote or hybrid if advantages outweigh disadvantages.
Has your company had to take special measures to keep employees happy during the pandemic? (Number of employers mentioning each type of special measure out of 53 respondents. Percentage total exceeds 100% because respondents were allowed to choose more than one answer.)
12 of 53 (23%) said, “Yes, we have raised compensation and/or benefit levels.”
6 of 53 (11%) said, “Yes, we have offered more opportunities for personal growth and additional responsibilities.”
31 of 53 (58%) said, “We have offered remote and/or hybrid work arrangements.”
16 of 53 (30%) said, “No, we have been conducting business as usual.”
Respondent comments
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We increased communications with remote workers and included social “happy hours.”
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Employees are seeking more flexibility as a priority over increased compensation.
Data summary: Most employer respondents stated they are taking one or more special measures to keep current employees happy during the pandemic. These measures also likely apply to attracting job candidates in this unprecedented job environment with extreme labor shortages. The most popular measure being taken by employers by far is to offer remote and/or hybrid work arrangements, mentioned by 31 of 53 respondents (58%). This seems to confirm that flextime, including remote and hybrid work, is high on the list of what is important to most job candidates.
2022 VERSUS 2021
I asked the following closing question in my September 2021 survey.
Do you have any final thoughts on how the lubricant industry job environment will be different in 2022 versus the second half of 2021?
Final comments in the “remote and hybrid work” category are listed here.
Remote and hybrid work trends
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Other than flexible work schedule versus 100% attendance at work daily, I don’t see much change. Employees being hired may, however, choose employers that meet their schedule needs (i.e., work for an employer that permits mostly or 100% work from home versus one that doesn’t, one that does not require you to relocate may be preferred, etc.). Some jobs such as manufacturing, R&D and quality control will continue mandatory presence at main work location.
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Work will be more flexible, more virtual and more efficient. Hybrid is a better model than traditional. It’s better to embrace it than to fight it.
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There is a push to continue with hybrid work, especially since we “made it work” during the pandemic. People who worked from home reported more productivity; however, the overall business suffered because people were not on site to collaborate with. Small businesses function best when people of all job descriptions are onsite.
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Unfortunately, our company has not kept pace with work from home. Because of this, we expect more people to leave and to have a difficult time finding suitable replacements.
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With the home office being more common, I see more managers expecting workers to be available outside of regular business hours. I have experienced many more days of extended work hours than I did when working from office.
Here are additional studies completed during 2021 that indicate a trend toward increased remote and hybrid work arrangements.
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29% of employees are actively job searching because they want remote work (August 2021 survey including more than 4,600 respondents by FlexJobs).
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56% of job seekers say that flexibility in working hours and/or the ability to work remotely is important to them (July 2021 survey of 2,452 adults in the U.S. by Bankrate).
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80% of employees are satisfied with remote work despite higher workload and lack of social interaction with colleagues (March 2021 survey of employees and managers by Infosys and the Milken Institute).
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54% say working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic has improved their mental health (February 2021 survey of 850 workers by healthcare staffing firm, CHG Healthcare).
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82% of middle-market CEOs will allow for partial remote workforce post- COVID-19 (April 2021 survey of leaders of 251 companies with revenue of $5 million to $1 billion+ by Marcum LLP and Hofstra University’s Frank G. Zarb School of Business).
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51% of knowledge workers (e.g., engineers, accountants, writers) were expected to be working remote or hybrid by the end of 2021, up from 27% in 2019 (study by research firm,
Gartner, Inc., in June 2021).
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The average company would save $11,000/year per employee, and the average employee would save $3,000/year if a hybrid work pattern were implemented (study by consulting firm Global Workplace Analytics in January 2021).
The numbers previously cited in studies confirm the significant increase in remote work arrangements since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To what can we attribute this remote work trend?
First, employers have become proficient with technology for conducting virtual business effectively through video meetings with customers, vendors and internal employees. They have learned a lot about what types of employees will be motivated and productive while working remotely. They also have learned how to manage them virtually. Finally, employers realize they will expand their pool of candidates for an open position by offering remote work (especially to individuals who otherwise would have needed to relocate).
Second, most individual employees have gotten the taste of working remotely during the pandemic (many for the first time). Many of these same individuals have discovered that working remotely brings out the best in them regarding personal motivation and success. They also have become more proficient in use of technology required to communicate and participate in meetings virtually. Many individuals have a newfound strong feeling about working remotely and left the workforce until they could find the right remote arrangement.
Employers obviously need to try to satisfy the desire of current employees and job candidates to work remotely. Especially because of the unprecedented talent shortage, employers must be creative and take special measures to stand out among competition when attempting to retain employees or attract new talent. It may behoove employers to even allow traditionally onsite employees to work at home one or two days per week. In this case, however, be sure to give the same opportunity to both current employees and job candidates to maintain equity.
If you are an individual who is determined to pursue a remote work set up, you must realize that an employer is more likely to accommodate your remote and hybrid work request if you describe what the benefit will be to them. Emphasize to your current employer (or a prospective employer) that you would be more satisfied, motivated and productive in a remote work arrangement to manage remotely and that you would be flexible to spend more time onsite as needed.
In an increasingly virtual world, a silver lining to the devastating pandemic is that we were all forced to think about the ideal mix of in-person and remote activities in our careers that will help us achieve our desired work-life balance.
Ken Pelczarski is owner and founder of Pelichem Associates, a Chicago-based search firm established in 1985 and specializing in the lubricants industry. You can reach Ken at (630) 960-1940 or at pelichem@aol.com.