HR professionals would take a pay cut for more flexibility

HR professionals are usually the masters behind helping the organisations they work for administer flexible working arrangements for staff, but it turns out they are some of the most willing people to take up less traditional hours.

According to the 2014 Cisco Connected World Technology Report (CCWTR), not only is flexible working fast becoming the new norm for the "future of work", but it's so desirable to HR employees that they'd be willing to take a pay cut for it.

Overall, professionals in general are willing to earn less in return for more flexibility, but this is mostly true for 40% of HR professionals.

In fact, those in HR are willing to accept the largest pay cut, with 56% saying they'd take 10% less, versus 35% of Gen Y and 34% of Gen X profressionals overall. 

With rapid improvements in technology, employees are becoming more accessible for work and working remotely has never been easier, the report found.

In fact, more than 50% of Gen X and Gen Y professionals consider themselves accessible for work "24 hours a day, seven days a week", with 30% saying they are always accessible via phone and email.

Because of this, employees' work schedules are becoming less structured and more of a "7-to-8 then 9-to-12 then 2-to-5 then 9-to-10 workday".

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And yet, not everyone feels working remotely is the best option.

Among those whose organisations allow them the luxury of working from home, 44% of Gen Y professionals feel they are able to focus better when working in an office environment, compared with 38% of Gen X professionals who are equally focused both at home and in the office.

These professionals are also generally on the fence when it comes to the typical scheduled white-collar working hours, with about half preferring to be able to work from home without restrictions at odd hours, and half who prefer the traditional 9-to-5.

Despite that, when actually given the choice to work from home, most of them would take up the offer, leaving only 28% of Gen Y, 19% of Gen X and 6% turning up for work at the office.

Around 70% of professionals said their organisations have adopted a flexible, mobile and remote work model, and they are at an advantage because of this.

Half of professionals surveyed feel their organisation's HR department is adjusting to allow employees to have a more flexible work style, but one third say this isn't being done quickly enough for their liking (despite 56% of HR saying it's being implemented well.)

However, even with all this talk about remote working, professionals believe that in 2020 physical offices will still exist - but they will have significantly shrunk in size.

In fact, offices will become so much less of a big deal, than 25% of employees say they'd be "willing to move to Mars or another planet if their organisation was to open a branch."

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