More workers are seeking—and gaining—remote work.
Executive Summary
In a tight, competitive labor market, insurers need to appeal to what job seekers want. Fortunately, their needs are not that hard to meet, says WAHVE CEO Sharon Emek, who advocates remote work for insurance carriers. Here, she describes mentoring and knowledge benefits that retirement-age workers offer to carriers that provide step-down transitional retirement options and broader benefits of remote work options for all age groups, such as the ability to grow workforces outside or geographic borders. (Editor's Notes: WAHVE is a provider of remote talent. This article was written before businesses recently began putting temporary remote work practices in place to deal with COVID-19 outbreaks. The article addresses the appeal of work-from-home policies outside of crisis management situations like pandemic containment.)In fact, the level to which today’s employees are working remotely has grown exponentially. Global Workplace Analytics data reveals that the work-at-home, non-self-employed worker population has grown 173 percent between 2005 and 2018—11 percent more than the rest of the workforce and 47 times faster than self-employment.
Some companies have already begun the transformation of their workforce. An Upwork report shows that 63 percent of companies have remote workers. That same report reveals that five times as many hiring managers expect more of their employees to be working remotely within the next 10 years.
Good thing, too. A Buffer & AngelList survey of over 3,500 remote workers reveals that 98 percent of workers surveyed want to work remotely at least some of the time for the rest of their careers. That includes retirement-aged employees: The Global Workplace Analytics study found that 71 percent of retired workers who returned to work had originally retired because they’d wanted more flexibility than their job offered. The study also found that 75 percent of retirees want to continue to work—but they want the flexibility to enjoy their retirement.
