Pay equality and benefits key considerations for future of flexible working

Around half of UK workers polled in a new study, think that pay and benefits should be based on ability, regardless of where an employee is located. The Global Workforce Revolution report, published by Remote, claims to identify the key priorities for companies looking to extend remote and flexible working practices as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The research suggests that remote and flexible working raise issues around pay equality, with 49 percent believing that pay and benefits should be based on ability, regardless of where an employee is located, 30 percent still agreeing that pay and benefits should be adjusted based on local cost of living and 21 percent believing it should be a combination of the two.

With many companies traditionally providing weighted salaries for those working in Greater London, this highlights the need for the introduction of carefully thought through remote working policies.

The data also uncovered the workplace benefits most desired by remote workers, with pension schemes coming in top with 41 percent of workers choosing this as important, 39 percent selecting home office allowance and 36 percent choosing healthcare (respondents were asked to pick their top 3).

What’s more, 70 percent of people confessed they would stay with their employer at least one year longer if remote working was an option; 1 in 5 (22 percent) said they would stay 10+ years longer.

The report also claims that workplace culture is key to hiring and retaining the best talent, with 47 percent agreeing culture is important for hiring whilst 48 percent agreed it was a crucial factor in retaining talent. For professionals over the age of 55, trust was considered to be the most important factor (53 percent).

The biggest perceived barriers to remote working are uncovered within the report as time differences (35 percent), IT set-up (34 percent), lack of face to face contact (31 percent), language barriers (30 percent), challenges with compliance to local labour laws (25 percent) and set-up and management of new legal entities (20 percent).