Five in 10 workers now pick employer based on work-life balance

The report found that global business leaders are significantly more satisfied with how they have adjusted to new working norms in the pandemic than their employees are.

While 79 per cent of organisations believe employees prefer to work in an office , only 39 per cent of employees would prefer to work from an office full time, according to NTT Ltd, a global technology and business solutions provider.

"Currently, the narrative is all about remote working, but the reality of employees' needs is much more complicated, and any failure to accurately assess and respond to that fact presents a serious risk to organisations," said Alex Bennett, Global Senior Vice President, GTM Solutions at NTT Ltd.

"We found that work-life balance and commute times are now the two biggest factors people look at when deciding where to work, and so performing well on workforce and workplace strategy will be a real competitive advantage," he said in a statement.

Compared to operations staff, CEOs are 20 percentage points more likely to believe that their organisation is very effective at managing working hours, 28 points more likely to believe that they are effective at preventing burnout, and 41 points more likely to be very satisfied with their organisation's employee experience (EX) capabilities.

"This awareness gap mirrors a serious lack of employee confidence, with just 38 per cent saying that their employer fully values their health and well-being, and only 23 per cent saying they are very happy working for their employer," the findings showed.

Nonetheless, 82 per cent of organisations are engaged in reshaping their office space over the next 12 months to foster an environment of innovation and social connection.

"Clearly, there's an awareness on some level that immature workforce strategies will lead to employee discontent, and that work should be led by what people actually need," said Bennett.