Highest flight risk among sought after Gen-Y or "Millennials" demographic--43 percent would change employers
Unify, a leading communications software and services firm, today published Volume 3 of its New Way to Work (NW2W) Index. The findings from the research revealed that more than one third of employees surveyed—including 34 percent of directors and 38 percent of managers—said they would change companies for an employer that embraces flexible work, or what Unify has defined as the "New Way to Work" (NW2W).
The findings showed that the highest flight risk is among those in the sought after Gen-Y or "millennials" demographic, with 43 percent of these employees saying they would change employers for a job that offers flexible work.
For Volume 3 of the NW2W Index, Unify surveyed more than 900 global respondents at all levels across the healthcare, financial, education, manufacturing, and public sector markets, with the goal of learning how workers define the NW2W, and how important it is to them. Among the findings, 47 percent of respondents defined the NW2W as working where they want, while 43 percent defined it as working when they want; with better collaboration technology being key to realizing it.
"Recent research* from Dun and Bradstreet says the total cost of replacing an experienced employee can be up to 150 percent of that person's annual salary," said Bill Hurley, chief marketing officer at Unify. "This type of 'flight risk' can be devastating for organizations. If companies want to attract and retain the best talent, they must implement flexible work options. The best enabler of this is collaboration technology that allows employees to work where and how they want, and easily collaborate to solve problems, and achieve results."
Additional findings from the NW2W Index include the following:
More than one third of employees at all levels said they would actually leave their jobs/change employers to go to a job with more flexibility.
More than half of all senior managers (director-level and higher) surveyed said their organizations are moving in the direction of more flexible work and expect to be there in the next two years.
More than one third of respondents said they would drive initiatives to make flexible working terms a reality in their organization.
