94% Of Desk Workers Want Flexibility In Their Work Schedule

The 9 to 5 seems to have a permanent fixture in workplace culture all around the world.   

Despite the evolution that work structures have undergone in recent years, one adage seems to be sticking: the traditional 8-hour work day. 

However, the most recent survey from Slack’s Future Forum shows that 94% of desk workers want flexibility in their work schedule, while 80% prefer agility in the location.  

Asynchronous work isn’t a new concept, but upon further review, it appears that decision-makers are mostly addressing the geographical aspect of a flexible workplace. 

Location flexibility is certainly a perk and gives workers the ability inch closer to that sweet, sweet work-life balance, but rigid scheduling puts pressure on workers to appear “online.”   

“We need to have a broader conversation about professional norms and what it means to be a good employee,” said Sheela Subramanian, Vice President and cofounder of the Future Forum. “We’re at the beginning of this experiment, of re-evaluating the role of work in our lives. We have a long way to go.”  

But schedule flexibility doesn’t just mean letting employees work whenever they please – it means setting time aside for necessary hands-on meetings that workers need to be at. For instance, software firm Crunchbase created a core working schedule from 1 pm to 6 pm to give workers across all time zones a guaranteed time block that they can meet and collaborate with colleagues.    

Adopting schedule flexibility isn’t just good for employee satisfaction, the Future Forum survey showed workers are nearly 30% more productive than those with a strict schedule.