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In a previous article, I wrote how employees’ desire to work remotely was so significant as to play a part in helping to fuel the ongoing Great Resignation. The perceived importance of work location flexibility is further evidenced by the findings of a Workforce Confidence survey conducted by LinkedIn in the spring of 2022. In this survey, almost 30,000 individuals were asked to select their top three most desired employer-provided benefits from a possible list of seven. The seven choices offered were indeed attractive:

• Unlimited paid time off
• Four-day work week
• Work location flexibility (work from home)
• Child care assistance
• Financial wellness offerings
• Free mental health benefits
• Paid sabbatical

The results? Not surprisingly, the shorter four-day work week ranked quite high, with 55% of respondents selecting this option as one of their top three. However, work location flexibility rated even higher, with 63% placing it in their top three choices! All other options ranked considerably lower.

Thus, if given a choice, a slight majority of individuals would choose the flexibility of work location (such as working remotely from home) over having a four-day work week!

Of course, as a practical matter, not every industry can accommodate or even offer work location flexibility. Thus, not surprisingly, the results of the survey vary by industry. Nonetheless, the findings provide an interesting snapshot of workers’ current priorities!

The complete LinkedIn article by McKenna Moore and Ashley Peterson may be found here. A special thanks to my friends at LinkedIn for permission to reprint this material!

If you were offered the choice of work location flexibility or a four-day work week, which would you choose? Why?