By: Kirstie McDermott
For many office workers, the pandemic proved to be particularly transformative in terms of the way they conducted their working lives. Very suddenly, it became not only possible, but mandatory, for a lot of jobs to be done remotely. For some employees who may have previously been asking for more remote work accommodations and being refused them on the grounds that their manager felt that the job wouldn’t get done, or if they were given remote working access, everyone else would want it too, this came as a bit of a vindication.
In fact, according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS) in the first quarter of 2021, productivity rose by 0.9%, which is around twice that of the pre-pandemic rate. It turned out that many workers actually quite liked the peace and quiet of not being in an office and got a lot more done as a result.
Another piece of data from 2021 discovered that at the time, 45% of working professionals were either very or extremely interested in continuing to remote work post-pandemic. The survey was conducted by RADA Business and younger workers were particularly in favour, with 51% of 25-to-34-year-olds saying they wanted some form of home working to continue permanently.
Cutting offices
But that was then, and this is now. As lockdowns eased and offices re-opened, many employees found their remote working privileges eroded as managers ushered them back to the office. A survey conducted in June and July by Consultancy Advanced Workplace Associates of 43 offices across the UK, and which took in nearly 50,000 workers, found that people are now going into the office an average of 1.5 days a week, compared to pre-pandemic, where workers went into the office an average of 3.8 days weekly.
That’s good news for those who do enjoy being back in on a hybrid basis. But if you don’t, there may be some light at the end of the tunnel: companies are shedding office space thanks to the pandemic and the new ways their people want to work. In the U.S, at least 43 companies have downsized, sold or let leases expire, according to a list compiled by Buildremote. They include Twitter, Uber and Salesforce, and according to CBRE’s Spring 2022 Occupier Sentiment Survey, more than half of companies plan to trim office space in the next three years because of remote work and space efficiencies too.
If you don’t want to wait around to see if your employer will follow suit, then we are highlighting three companies below which are currently hiring, and you can check out plenty more on the City A.M. Job Board.
Indeed
As the world’s number one jobs site, Indeed’s website achieves over 250 million unique visitors per month, and it is available in more than 60 countries across the world, as well as in 28 languages. Since 2004, Indeed has given job seekers free access to millions of jobs from thousands of company websites and job boards. It is also a great employer itself and right now is hiring for a number of roles including software engineering jobs. Find all job openings at Indeed.
Airbnb
Airbnb is known for its company culture and it also offers great benefits. It scored 4.3 out of 5 on Glassdoor as a good place to work and has good hybrid and remote working policies which is attractive for those who are seeking a better working balance. The company has a global footprint with offices in major cities across the world, and there are a range of jobs on offer here at the moment which include market managers, engineering and more. Discover them all here.
eClerx
Based in Pune, AKA the Silicon Valley of India, as well as Mumbai, eClerx is an Indian IT consulting and outsourcing multinational company which is engaged in providing solutions to Fortune 500 companies around business process management, automation and analytics services. The company employs more than 15,000 people globally and is currently hiring for roles which include senior agile software developer and data architect. Check out some of its open roles here.
Explore thousands of other brand new career opportunities on the City A.M. Job Board
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