Like most of the population, millennial women are feeling conflicted about the pros and cons of working remotely. But many are afraid of missing opportunities if they don’t return to the office.
According to a recent survey by theSkimm, millennial women – defined as women aged 25 to 40, are feeling uncertain where to physically work from in the future.
theSkimm, an American subscription-only newsletter, founded by Danielle Weisberg and Carly Zakin, interviewed more than 1,600 participants for the survey.
They found that nearly two-thirds of women said they viewed remote work as a priority.
43 percent said remote work is very important or extremely important for their future, while 22 percent said they would no longer consider working for an employer if remote work was not an available option.
Two-thirds of respondents said they fear they would miss career opportunities by not being in the office. Forty percent said they feel more pressure to go back in the office if they know their male colleagues are heading back.
According to data from McKinsey & Company, roughly 20-25 percent of the workforce can work from home at least three to five days a week without loss in productivity.
Workers who can work from home at least one day a week sits at 40 percent.
theSkimm’s co-CEO Carly Zakin believes the most “obvious benefit of remote work options is flexibility.”
“With all the demands that women have faced in the past year and a half, working remotely may seem like the better alternative because it allows millennial women and millennial moms to create a schedule that works best for them and their families,” Zakin told CNBC.
She described the way the “pandemic brought to light that the true 9-to-5 no longer exists, especially for working women who are doing the bulk of household work while navigating careers.”
Danielle Weisberg, the other founder of theSkimm, believes one of the best ways for people to negotiate more flexible work options with their employers is to prove how working remotely can benefit not only them but also the company.
“Do your research on why it can actually help the organisation,” Weisberg told CNBC.
77 percent of the survey respondents said that remote work is critical since a large chunk of their day usually dedicated to committing to and from the workplace will be cut out.
Just over fifty percent said that they work more efficiently at home.
Last year, Lean In and McKinsey & Company released a report that showed American mothers were three times as likely as fathers to be responsible for housework and child-care duties during the coronavirus pandemic.
According to data from Catalyst, an NGO that helps create equitable workplaces for women in the U.S, women with child-care needs were 32 percent less likely to leave their careers if they can work from home, compared with women with child-care responsibilities who don’t have access to flexible or remote work options.
“We’ve been thinking a lot about what company leaders can do to ensure that everyone is on a level playing field,” Zakin said.
“There’s a lot, none of it is clear cut, and it’s only getting more complicated.”
“Companies should get a sense of where their team is to get an idea of what their teams are asking for and where there are opportunities to support them.”
Take a look at the full report here.