At a purchase price of US$18.15 in cash per share, the transaction corresponds to a Qualtrics equity value of approximately US$12.5 billion on a fully diluted basis, representing a 73% premium over the 30-day average trading price prior to 麻豆原创鈥檚 announcement to explore a sale (approx. 62% premium relative to the unaffected closing price on January 25, 2023). 麻豆原创鈥檚 stake will be acquired for approximately US$7.7 billion.

鈥淪ilver Lake has both the operational expertise and the track record with software companies to help Qualtrics extend its leadership in the XM category it pioneered,鈥� said Christian Klein, CEO and Member of the Executive Board of 麻豆原创 SE. 鈥淪ince we acquired Qualtrics in 2019 the company has more than tripled its revenue while delivering profitability. 麻豆原创 intends to remain a close go-to-market and technology partner, servicing joint customers and continuing to contribute to Qualtrics鈥� success.鈥� The number of companies and brands using Qualtrics software has risen from 10,000 at the time of 麻豆原创鈥檚 purchase to over 18,000 today.

The agreement resulted from a robust process that was initiated on January 26 and identified the joint proposal by Silver Lake and CPP Investments as most attractive. The transaction has been approved by the Qualtrics board, including a committee of independent directors, as well as the 麻豆原创 Executive and Supervisory Boards.

While the transaction is subject to customary regulatory clearances and expected to close in the second half of 2023, 麻豆原创鈥檚 financial results for the first quarter, due April 21, are expected to present Qualtrics as a discontinued operation.

Barclays acted as financial advisor to 麻豆原创 on the transaction, Shearman & Sterling acted as 麻豆原创鈥檚 legal advisor.

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For too long many companies have taken advantage of their people, simply because they could or because they were too slow to recognize the importance of culture and leadership. The power dynamic has shifted from government to employer to employee to a whole new power base and hierarchy: employee to employer to government. Add to this severe talent pool shortages brought about by demographics, geopolitical change, digitalization, and a new generational attitude to formal sector employment 鈥� in short, a shift to the experience economy around late 2016.

Companies most impacted by the Great Resignation are those with attitudes like 鈥淚f you don’t like it here, you can get a job somewhere else,鈥� those that don鈥檛 treat their people like human beings but rather as disposable capital line items. Frontline workers suffered the most in the past, but since 2014 the power balance tipped more and more to these employees and away from leaders and the organization鈥檚 human capital management (HCM) function. What we’re experiencing now is the first of a potential series of great corrections 鈥� and the risk of not addressing it poses a serious sustainability and growth risk for companies.

The workforce across all ranks now has much more power and influence. After the pandemic, many employees are now saying 鈥淚 don’t want to be treated this way and I would rather have no job than this job!鈥欌�� Prior to the pandemic, fear of the unknown was enough to keep somebody in an 鈥淥K鈥� job. But, people were furloughed, some lost their jobs, and many who didn’t lose their jobs were still distressed and fearful. Suddenly, the unknown became a lot less scary, and when employers now offer them 鈥淥K鈥� and 鈥渦nknown,鈥� they are choosing 鈥渦nknown.鈥� It is no surprise that so many people are leaving their jobs.

The Great Resignation is a sustainability warning to companies that have not focused on culture and leadership for a while. It is a great opportunity to double down to give people a workplace with a culture and climate in which they want to work and want to do the kind of work they feel is meaningful to themselves and their company.

The workplace is an environment of the leadership and employer鈥檚 own making. Employee experience affects all levels, not just junior employees but also more senior leaders whose high number of resignations is being coined the Grey Resignation. The Grey Resignation will hurt business as much as the Great Resignation.

When most leaders speak of challenges in finding the right talent, there鈥檚 a greater than average chance that they鈥檙e really talking about digital skills. This is understandable: we largely operate in and are moving further towards a digital world. In this digital world, organizations need the ability to create experiences that keep customers returning and employees engaged. This also means an increasing reliance on the organization鈥檚 ability to rapidly and successfully deploy new applications and services, based on leading technology.

However, there is more than one elephant in the room. One is that the skills needed are often the preserve of young people. The assumption is that the valuable digital skills are based on the technology with which those newer to the workforce grew up. These capabilities are highly prized and, if they can鈥檛 be obtained through hiring, can be developed through training programs for young people.

Yet while there is certainly appetite for employers to provide up- and reskilling support to those newer to the workforce, it is a benefit that is highly valued across all demographics. According to a听, more than half (57%) of all workers say they are 鈥渆xtremely鈥� or 鈥渧ery鈥� interested in participating in upskilling programs, with 听53% of those aged 55 and above view upskilling as 鈥渧ery鈥� or 鈥渆xtremely鈥� important.

And yet it is the latter that are rapidly exiting in the workforce. This Grey Resignation represents a huge loss of talent, experience, and networks that cannot be easily replaced. For the most part, businesses are in danger of overlooking this before it is too late. The issue is exacerbated by culture debates and oversteer policies in an accelerated attempt to rectify diversity and inclusion targets since historically the older worker will predominately identify as male.

Why can鈥檛 older talent be easily replaced? Because so much of their capability is founded in deep-rooted experience and knowledge that is not easily collated and shared by formal means or automation. Some industries have been struggling with this brain-drain for several years, even those at the forefront of innovation such as the technology sector, where even losing the few people that understand how legacy systems work can raise a major barrier to technological progress.

Losing inherent knowledge and experience is always a concern whenever a person leaves. When a whole demographic heads for the door, it has the potential to be catastrophic, both for the employer in question and the wider ecosystem.听 Relationships between customers and suppliers can start to break down as all the informal working practices 鈥� the bonds built up over time 鈥� disappear in an instant. These are intangible and hard to identify, let alone track, but they are a key part of commercial success and so they must be protected.

It鈥檚 important to understand the drivers behind the Grey Resignation. Some are like those mentioned above: a pandemic-prompted realization that the old ways of working do not fit with modern life, that the unknown is actually not as scary as once thought, or simply a deeper understanding of what they individually want to get out of work and life.

Like every other demographic, older workers have been exposed to new approaches to work since 2020. For some, it will have been a blip; others may well have found that remote or hybrid working suits them better.

This could be particularly true for employees that have had to balance demanding careers with caring for both elderly parents and helping with young grandchildren. The door to a more balanced way of life has been opened and people do not want to move backwards.

Some have felt forced out by changes in management and a need to cut costs during lockdowns. Voluntary redundancies and early retirements were common options during this time of urgent fiscal prudence, with many older workers feeling pressured to leave the workforce while their younger colleagues were put on furlough.

These insights are broad, and specific analysis is required in every company where there will be patterns and variations between sectors and, especially within different business functions, demographics or geographies of the companies themselves. As such, employers will need to proactively gather information to build a clear picture of what the specific drivers and motivations are that make it hard for them to retain experienced talent.

Some businesses might already have a good understanding of what鈥檚 driving out their experienced employees, but for many the mass exits may be unexpected. 听Clearly if these companies wish to grow, this sustainability issue needs to be addressed:

• Analyze and prioritize what鈥檚 happening on the ground and why particular groups of employees may have resigned. Predict which remaining employees are at risk of leaving (flight risk analysis).
• Identify demographically similar groups of employees.
• Determine priority and build tailored flight risk mitigation approaches for each demographically similar group of high flight risk workers, based on their motivational drivers to leave the business.
• Base remediation plans on each individual employee’s motivation to possibly leave the business.

How Can 麻豆原创 Help?

There are several 麻豆原创 products that can help and their value is, not least of all, that they can integrate natively with one-another:

can help transform people data consolidated from multiple sources as a trusted demographics data source and identify demographically similar groups of employees.

Experience insights gathered from employee feedback to measure sentiment, satisfaction, and engagement (the greatest predictor of flight risk) can be conducted with Employee Experience Management Solutions from 麻豆原创 and Qualtrics. ^听

Predictive capabilities in can leverage employee survey results to create a flight risk prediction, like 鈥渨ho might leave the business and why?鈥�

Armed with demographically similar groups of employees and a tool that predicts who might leave and why, organizations can then design a series of specific talent management remediation strategies to stave of potential further resignations.

Implementing each of the integrated human experience management (HXM) approaches identified to prevent resignations is the sweet spot and strength of . This is also the same world-leading integrated talent management toolset that is best placed to transform the culture and climate in the organization to help ensure future bulk resignations are far less likely.

Learn more at .

Kim Fischer is people analytics architect at 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors.

According to a pulse survey conducted by the , 76% of employees want flexibility in where they work and 93% flexibility in when they work. The desire for flexible work is strongest among women, working parents, and employees of color who have shown gains in feelings of belonging working remotely. Specifically, 81% of Black respondents say they want flexibility in where they work, compared to 75% of White respondents.

This data is in direct contrast to what most executives report that they want in post-pandemic workforce policies. Of those currently working fully remotely, nearly half of all executives surveyed (44%) want to work from the office every day, compared to 17% of employees. And 75% of these executives say they want to work from the office three to five days a week versus only 34% of employees.

So, what are companies to do? How can they make informed decisions about what鈥檚 best for leaders, for the business, and for their employees?

Applying a Sustainability Lens to Work Location Decision

One way of looking at the issues of return to office or hybrid work is from a business sustainability perspective. For example, if forcing people back to the office will make critical employees more likely to leave their jobs, you have a real flight risk issue impacting the sustainability of your business. Your business must have enough people with the right skills at the right time to propel it forward.

Another perspective to consider is how today鈥檚 business environment has been transformed by climate change, nature loss, and more. The planet needs change, and people demand change. What if, when making decisions about who comes into the office and when, executives considered the carbon footprint generated by employee travel and commutes, weighed against the energy usage working from home, along with the sustainability causes that their employees support?

This would require implementing next-generation holistic steering and reporting that maps operational and experiential data to show progress on goals such as reducing the carbon footprint of the business. Imagine executives having climate and natural capital accounting at their fingertips, including individual and collective employee carbon footprint tracking.

This is the kind of holistic steering and reporting that groups such as the World Economic Forum (WEF) want companies to integrate into their strategic decision-making. Integrating economic, environmental, and social performance data into decisions 鈥� referred to as Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics 鈥� can help executives serve their own goals, respect their employees鈥� preferences for when and where they work, and contribute to reaching sustainability goals that make the world a cleaner, greener place.

How 麻豆原创 Can Help

In 2020, 麻豆原创 committed to enable companies to report on the WEF鈥檚 Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics. As promised, we have delivered to help enable holistic enterprise-wide sustainability performance management. 麻豆原创 also made it easier to become a sustainable business and reduce carbon footprints with , which can enable businesses to move toward lower carbon emissions and more sustainable operations. 麻豆原创鈥檚 data-driven approach lets businesses embed sustainability comprehensively and gain actionable insights across the entire value chain to enable companies to transition to low-carbon business processes.

Faced with an ambitious sustainability agenda and carbon-lowering targets, one 麻豆原创 customer wanted to go further and consider the employee wishes for home/office work, and the carbon emissions generated from their commute to work against the energy efficiency of their home offices. The company had committed to lowering its enterprise carbon emissions and wanted a mechanism to support managers鈥� operational workforce planning processes.

麻豆原创 built a proof of concept (PoC) application in just one day once the employee survey was collected. The PoC decision support application was realized as follows:

Employee address data was acquired from records using the standard delivered API. 麻豆原创 Data Quality Management and microservices for location data were used for both data cleansing 鈥� a big bonus since the customer was able to cleanse inaccurate addresses in 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Employee Central 鈥� and data enrichment to geocode the home and work addresses with the latitude, longitude, and altitude information. The world of geo-location services was opened.

Demographic measures and dimensions were acquired from 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Workforce Analytics using the standard 麻豆原创 Analytics Cloud connector.

While trying to understand employee sentiment on workplace and flexibility preferences, a survey was created using Employee Experience Management Solutions from 麻豆原创 and Qualtrics. The survey allowed for employees, whose jobs enabled them to work from home, to answer questions relating to their preferences for the number of days a week they wanted to work from home and their commute (means and time of travel). The insights gathered allowed us to understand that the travel time to work 鈥� not distance 鈥� is a major factor in determining retention risk amongst various demographic groups and so the information was valuable input for the flight risk tool they had in 麻豆原创 Analytics Cloud enterprise reporting.

was then able to use external Web services and geo-location services to calculate the travel distance and travel time to work by various means of transport. One of the services was then able to determine the carbon emissions for the means of travel that the employee had specified. The commute travel time by job grade is a leading predictor of flight risk and is easily added to the flight risk prediction dataset.

The systems also gathered information of all the corporate and possible work locations. This opened the possibility for work location optimization, but it was not part of the scope of the PoC.

The data was then blended using 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform, specifically 麻豆原创 Data Warehouse Cloud, and anonymization views were defined to protect actual home addresses from being shown. Real-time 麻豆原创 HANA data anonymization allowed the application to use actual addresses to accurately calculate the travel metrics while safely anonymizing sensitive data for dashboard visualization and drill-down.

A dashboard was built and refined to analyze and interrogate the employee commute measures and identify specific employee carbon emissions each working day. Geospatial representation and visualization were built and demonstrated with interactive zoom and data filters. A what-if scenario was demonstrated with graphs and metrics calculated in real time to show the specific carbon emission impact of changing the percentage of time spent working remotely.

As shown in the below process, this PoC was achieved using various 麻豆原创 solutions, including 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions on 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform.

In Summary

Executives can make better decisions about the impact of employees going back to the office and how often, considering the social and actual carbon emissions from commutes in their people planning. Using 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions for employee information to geocode the distance of employees from the office and utilizing to layer experience insights to determine preferences, they can analyze carbon emissions for different types of commutes and make data-driven decisions to fuel their sustainability initiatives.

As shown in the below figure, executives can even look at this data by employee gender, race, and age. This helps them better assess, for instance, how many employees have strong preferences and who would become a flight risk should the business choose to mandate regular employee in-office attendance.

Finally, the figure below shows the simple what-if scenario to demonstrate how quickly and effectively analytics interfaces can be built, in this case, incorporating a slider bar and immediate impact of the change for the pre-filtered employees.

This kind of sustainability data and analysis empowers executives to find the 鈥渟weet spot鈥� in decisions that balance their preferences against employee preferences and align them to important goals such as reducing their carbon footprint.

Suddenly, what鈥檚 best for all becomes quite clear.

Learn more at .

Tammie Eldridge is part of Solution Marketing at 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors.

Amid unprecedented global challenges, the group鈥檚 Chief Human Resources Officer, Pablo Maison, was tasked with leading the organization through massive changes in its HR strategy. Maison knew that the most important factor to ensuring the success of building out new HR processes that fit the group鈥檚 needs was to understand how its people were feeling and what they needed.

The mission to move the group鈥檚 five companies to was to provide HR leaders with more efficiency using a centralized HR system. 鈥淭he core of our transformation is a simplifying process 鈥� improving employee experience and freeing up time in HR 鈥� for us to be focused on transformation, not transactions,鈥� Maison shared. To help the workforce transition through change, the group implemented 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions across various businesses to activate new learning and HR practices that facilitated simplified and efficient HR processes, empowering leaders and managers to have more time to focus on their people.

As the group evolved its HR strategy, it also wanted to find a way to easily capture employee sentiment within existing processes. To truly understand the employee experience, the company turned to Experience Management Solutions from 麻豆原创 and Qualtrics to provide embedded feedback opportunities that can seamlessly integrate within the flow of work.

鈥淲e need to be closer to our employees, and the digital transformation will help us do that,鈥� Maison said. Capturing feedback and insights from employees has enabled the group to develop an HR strategy that is centered around its people. By driving simplified processes, increased efficiency, and creating a culture of ongoing employee listening, Grupo Perez Companc is transforming the way its company works for the better. Implementing has empowered its leaders with insights to make data-driven decisions and support its people through the challenges of today while preparing them for the future.

Amanda Crittenden is global solution marketing lead for Employee Experience Management at 麻豆原创.

Candidates are also customers, so poor candidate experiences can impact customer brand reputation. Virgin Media famously they were losing over $5 million per year in lost sales revenue because candidates who had a poor candidate experience became brand detractors and canceled their subscriptions.

Still, most companies get candidate experience wrong. Something that seems like a no-brainer, like communicating with candidates, doesn鈥檛 happen. New research conducted by Qualtrics and 麻豆原创 found 64% of job seekers have been ghosted by a company they interviewed with (40% say they often don鈥檛 hear back, 24% say they never hear back). Or it could be something more nuanced, like long applications preventing people from applying. The 2022 Greenhouse Candidate Experience Report that 70% of job seekers will not submit a job application if it takes more than 15 minutes to complete.

What is worse is that companies think they are getting candidate experience right. CareerBuilder research shows that 78% of organizations believe they do a good job setting expectations upfront with candidates and communicating throughout the hiring process, but only 47% of candidates agree, creating a large candidate experience gap.

If companies don鈥檛 close the candidate experience gap, they will see higher unwanted candidate withdrawal, lower offer acceptance rates, and higher cost per hire. Identifying an experience gap is only half the challenge; organizations often lack adequate insights to know what levers will close the experience gap.

Specifically, there are three main barriers:

• Lack of comprehensive experience data. Most organizations collect data at only one point in time, usually at the end of the hiring process. This can introduce bias because organizations miss out on experience data from candidates earlier in the process; having a listening post only at the end of the hiring process ignores an experience gap that may exist earlier in the process, like during application or interviewing.
• Constrained recruiting teams. Recruiters are in ; they do not have time to do additional manual work. More listening posts should not mean more work for them. Recruiters need technology that helps them be more efficient and spend their energy where there is the biggest payoff.
• Inability to identify worthwhile insights and take action. Recruiting and talent acquisition teams are already sitting on loads of data. They have data in their candidate directory and applicant tracking systems, and adding on experience data will not necessarily lead to more insights and action. Talent acquisition teams need help synthesizing data from disparate locations, so they can focus their attention where it is needed most and take action sooner.

To solve these challenges, Qualtrics and 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors are deepening integrations by releasing a new automated data synchronization so that data flows more easily, quickly, and securely from into . This integration enhancement combined with existing embedded feedback opportunities make it easier for recruiters and talent acquisition leaders to better understand candidates鈥� experiences and more quickly take action to improve them.

Automating Secure Data Transfer to Enhance Candidate Experiences

Automated data transfer connects the deep operational data from the 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Recruiting module 鈥� like candidate demographics, stage in the hiring process, hiring manager, job location, and job level 鈥� and integrates it with the holistic experience data from Qualtrics 鈥� like how candidates evaluate fairness, clarity, technology, and timeliness in the hiring process. This pre-built integration gives joint 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors and Qualtrics customers a unified view of their operational and experience data, ultimately enabling talent acquisition leaders to optimize their candidate experience.

Available in the second half of 2022 to joint 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Recruiting and 麻豆原创 Qualtrics Candidate Experience customers, this improved integration securely and seamlessly automates data transfers between recruiting and candidate directories for greater data accuracy.听 This improves upon existing data syncing capabilities to be even more efficient. Data integration is critical because it offers talent acquisition teams:

• Up-to-date candidate directory: Gone are the days of manually exporting, scrubbing, and uploading spreadsheets because the workflow automates data transfer and keeps records up-to-date. The connection enables talent acquisition teams to spend more time on what matters most by reducing manual administration work.
• Automated in-moment listening: Embedded feedback opportunities within 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Recruiting captures candidate sentiment at key moments and the updated workflow automates survey distribution, so when a candidate progresses in the hiring process, a survey is distributed in-moment. This minimizes manual work and gathers candidate feedback in a timely manner to help ensure authentic responses that recruiters can respond to and act on immediately.
• Combined operational and experience data to analyze: Syncing candidate metadata, like demographics and job details, with candidate experience data, like perception of fairness, allows talent acquisition leaders to easily filter, analyze, and compare experience data from different views to make data-driven decisions using sophisticated analytics and dashboards.

New integrations continue to strengthen the experiences delivered by 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Recruiting and 麻豆原创 Qualtrics Candidate Experience. Embedded listening and enhanced data connections make it easier, faster, and more secure for CHROs and talent acquisition leaders to not only understand who their candidates are and in what stage of the hiring process they are, but also why candidates are having certain experiences and where to take action. For example, joint customers can discover why women 25 to 34 years old are more likely to decline offers and then implement targeted changes that improve experiences for future candidates of that specific demographic, reversing the negative acceptance trend.

Using experience management solutions from 麻豆原创 and Qualtrics to understand and improve the candidate experience allows organizations to design a talent strategy that values the employee voice at every key moment in the talent lifecycle — right from the start.

.

Amanda Crittenden is global solution marketing lead for Employee Experience Management at 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors.
Emily Lambert is product marketing manager for EX at Qualtrics.

Job Seekers Rush to Find New Opportunities with Better Pay and Work-Life Balance

Nearly three-quarters (72%) of job seekers say rising costs have played a role in their decision to look for a new job and more than half (55%) said news of an economic downturn made them more likely to start their job search now rather than six months down the road.

Job seekers said they are prioritizing pay and work-life balance as top considerations for new roles, and that the interview experience plays a huge role in determining their opinion of a prospective employer.

“Many people have switched jobs over the past year as they re-evaluated the role of work in their lives,鈥� said Dr. Benjamin Granger, chief workplace psychologist at Qualtrics听 “There’s a sense that the clock has started for anyone who wants a new job but has been hesitating to make the jump. Compared to years past, workers have higher expectations for what their jobs can offer, and many are eager to find that next opportunity before the job market slows too drastically.”

鈥淭here is a heightened awareness on the human experience at work as organizations gain a greater understanding of how their people are working across teams, how they鈥檙e feeling, and what opportunities they鈥檙e looking for,鈥� said Meg Bear, president and chief product officer, 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors. 鈥淚n fact, our research found that one of the biggest reasons people are leaving their jobs is because they don鈥檛 have the opportunity to move to a different role. can be a major differentiator to help organizations not only attract new talent but to retain employees and leverage the skills that already exist within their workforce.鈥�

The joint Qualtrics and 麻豆原创 study asked more than 1,000 U.S.-based job seekers about what they want in their next role, why they are struggling to find the best fit, and their biggest challenges during the recruiting process. Here鈥檚 what they had to say:

Finding a job that sparks passion is difficult, but applicants are willing to put in the work.

Only 15% say it鈥檚 been easy to find a job in which they are genuinely interested. And 45% are willing to go through one to five rounds of interviews for a job they are very interested in, while 35% are willing to go through as many rounds as it takes for a job in which they are very interested.

The interview experience plays a huge role in determining the candidate鈥檚 opinion of the employer.

Despite virtual interviews becoming more commonplace, most job seekers (57%) would prefer an in-person interview if given a choice. Only 19% would prefer phone interviews and 13% would prefer video interviews.

• 61% say their interview with the hiring manager is the most important as they determine whether they鈥檇 like to join the company; 17% say their interview with teammates is the most important.
• 64% have been ghosted by a company with which they interviewed; 40% say they often don鈥檛 hear back, 24% say they never hear back.
• 48% are unlikely to recommend the company to a friend if they experience a negative interview process.

Pay is the top factor for applicants when deciding to switch jobs.

The biggest deal breaker for job seekers when considering a new role is salary. Other motivating factors for quitting include a lack of work-life balance and company values not aligning with personal values. Thirty percent say they are not paid fairly for the work they do in their current role.

Well-being and work-life balance are key concerns for job seekers when deciding where to work.

Work-life fit ranks as one of the most important workplace traits, second only to compensation.

• 57% believe that getting a new job will help them feel less burned out; only seven percent say it won鈥檛.
• 59% say their current manager cares about their well-being.
• 56% are more likely to apply for a remote or hybrid role now, compared to before the pandemic; 35% say they are neither likely nor unlikely to apply.

Job seekers are optimistic that the turnaround time will be quick.

Although the job search process can take anywhere from a few days to several months, most respondents are optimistic that their wait time will be relatively quick. One in three (33%) job seekers anticipate it will take one to three months to get a new job; 28% anticipate it will take three to six months, 21% anticipate it will take six to 12 months, and 12% anticipate it will take less than a month.

Learn more about this research and how customers are using 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Recruiting at .

Study methodology: This study was fielded by Qualtrics, in partnership with 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors, between May 31-June 3, 2022. Respondents were selected from a randomized panel and considered eligible if they live in the United States, are at least 18 years of age and are either actively looking for a new job or plan to look for a new job in the next six months. The total number of respondents was 1,002. Respondents who did not pass quality standards were removed.

In , half of business leaders surveyed said they already require or plan to require employees to return to full-time, on-site work by the end of the year. Making headlines are managers like who point out the productivity gains that come from the social connection, culture keeping, and idea generation that they say can only be created in a shared workspace. But others disagree: several senior executives attending the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2022 in Davos, Switzerland, in favor of a hybrid work model, saying it was the most realistic approach for attracting and retaining talent.

Employees are on a mandated return to office, emboldened by newfound bargaining power as a result of the record and worker resignations of the Great Reshuffle. reveal that up to half of employees say they will quit or look for a new job if expected to return to the office full time.

Flex Work Models Up for Debate

Lost in the debate that is playing out in the media is valuable scientific research on the effects of different work models on worker productivity. This discussion is largely being driven by subjective impressions and entrenched ideas based on the 鈥渙ld normal,鈥� said Dr. Gabriela Burlacu, talent research manager at , speaking at the recently held annual conference of the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychologists (SIOP).

Joining her for the session 鈥淲here Will We Work? I-O Psychology Puts Flexible Work Models on Trial鈥� were industrial and organizational (I-O) psychologists Dr. Benjamin Granger, head of Employee Experience Advisory Services at , and Dr. Kristen Shockley, associate professor of Psychology at the . Joshua Acosta, a research analyst with , also later provided insights from the recent 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors report 鈥�.鈥�

Autonomy Fuels Motivation for Greater Productivity

鈥淚f we think about theories in I-O psychology, autonomy and control permeate a lot of these theories,鈥� said Shockley, who pointed out that 鈥渁utonomy as motivation for sustained effort鈥� is a frequent theme in I-O literature. 鈥淎utonomy is a fundamental need and when you allow people to work remote, it inherently gives them more of this autonomy. That is something which relates to a host of outcomes, like productivity and well-being.鈥�

The psychologists agreed that the optimal work model for the average global employee is a hybrid work arrangement. They noted, however, that this is not necessarily the best model for every individual or organization. For those organizations that opt for a hybrid model, they emphasized that the work needs to be structured so that collaborative tasks, like brainstorming, are done on-site and more analytical tasks are done remotely. 鈥淚 am very pro the hybrid model, with the caveat that it does need to be intentionally and holistically designed,鈥� said Burlacu.

Workers Expect Flex Work after Pandemic Productivity Sprint

A , which surveyed 10,000 workers in 12 industries in 12 countries in 2021, found that 83% of workers identified a hybrid model as optimal for them. Those already in hybrid environments reported better mental health and stronger work relationships, and felt they were doing better work for their organizations.

The , which studies work-from-home arrangements and attitudes, tracked the productivity of remote workers from April 2020 to January 2022. It found that on average people were in remote work arrangements, even with the added stressors of the pandemic.

For the , Qualtrics carried out a study of 14,000 employees in 22 industries across 27 countries to look at general job attitudes, engagement, inclusion, and well-being. Employees generally felt more energized at work 鈥� compared to the previous year 鈥� with half saying their physical and mental well-being actually improved while working remotely.

鈥淢any organizations haven鈥檛 lost step in terms of productivity,鈥� said Acosta from 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors, citing the latest research from 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors, which found that workers鈥� attitudes are shifting to expect hybrid arrangements. 鈥淚f people are working in a hybrid setting or home setting, we鈥檙e seeing they鈥檙e often just as productive as when they鈥檙e in the office. It鈥檚 our perspective that hybrid work isn鈥檛 going away anytime soon.鈥�

Hybrid Work Moves from Contingency to Certainty

If 2021 was the year hybrid work was utilized for health and safety, then researchers at 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors predict that 2022 will be the year that it moves from contingency to certainty. This means that organizations will need to establish policies, practices, and cultural norms to operationalize hybrid work arrangements. Acosta noted this will look different across all organizations, depending on the composition of the workforce.

Accenture鈥檚 study revealed that a number of demographic factors influence workers鈥� decisions about where to work, including age and gender demographics and where they live. For example, Gen X women said they could be more productive in remote work, while Gen Z men felt strongly about being on-site. Urban dwellers felt they would be more productive in the office, while people living in rural areas preferred remote work.

鈥淎ll of that together suggests that if you let people choose, you will end up with demographically very different workforces on-site versus remotely,鈥� Burlacu said. 鈥淭hat wouldn鈥檛 be a problem if you created equitable work experiences and equitable access to development and promotion opportunities.鈥� She then followed up with a hard truth: 鈥淏ut the issue of equitable access has never been properly resolved in the workplace.鈥�

Just ask deskless workers. This group 鈥� defined as employees who perform their jobs away from a desk 鈥� was largely absent from the discussion in 2021. In 2022, however, these workers are presenting more pronounced views, according to research by 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors. With companies facing talent shortages in all job categories, Acosta said that organizations will need to seriously consider deskless workers鈥� changing expectations for autonomy and flexibility while balancing organizational and job demands.

Maybe It鈥檚 Time for a New Definition of Flexibility?

鈥淎 lot of times we assume workplace flexibility means where you work, but what鈥檚 become clear to us in our work is when employees define flexibility, they鈥檙e talking about where and when they work, and they鈥檙e also talking about how work gets measured and managed,鈥� Granger said. 鈥淓mployees are defining workplace flexibility much broader than many organizational leaders. We need to be more flexible in how we define workplace flexibility.鈥�

Acosta agreed, saying 鈥淥rganizations are going to need to be really thoughtful in operationalizing how they can deliver flexibility as well as autonomy, and perhaps even redesign not only where people work, but when and how work takes place.鈥�