More than a third of people in Scotland would now quit their job if employers won't let them work from home.
Research conducted to mark the third anniversary of the UK entering Covid-19 lockdown has revealed that 35% of respondents said they are now more likely to consider leaving a job if employers don't allow them to work from home; with people under 45 even more likely to do so.
The survey was conducted by Opinion Matters, among a sample of 1,000 nationally-representative Scottish adults, on behalf of Glasgow-based video interview platform Willo.
Workers in Edinburgh are most likely to quit if unable to work from home, with more than the national number (43%) saying they’d leave their job if bosses asked them to return to the office full time.
Around 30% of Glaswegians said they’d leave.
Working from home became essential for the majority of the nation during Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020 and 2021, when the UK Government advised people to work from home even once restrictions eased. Only ‘key workers’ such as medical staff, emergency services, and shop workers were excepted.
Employers have increasingly called on staff to return to offices, with a separate survey conducted by Slack published earlier this year revealing that half of leaders want workforces back on site.
More than half of Scottish respondents to the Willo study said they would now consider applying for a job that enables them to work from home (54%), with roughly the same number going a step further and considering roles that enable them to work from anywhere in the world (53%).
More than half Scottish respondents (57%) said they were unlikely to consider working from an office again.
More than a third of Scots also said they will never spend as much time commuting as they did before the pandemic (37%), with those aged under 44 again less likely to do so.
Euan Cameron, founder of Willo, said: “The pandemic drove the biggest change to working habits since the industrial revolution.
“Sectors that were previously tied to offices have been liberated, with staff enjoying increased flexibility and choice, and employers reaping the benefits of more appropriate premises and access to talent once off limits due to geography or time zone.
“Three years is enough time to show a true shift in worker and employer behaviour and it’s no secret that lockdowns were the final hurdle on remote working going mainstream, but what this survey shows is that working from home is now considered a right, not a perk or privilege.
“Nobody will forget the pain suffered during Covid-19, but if there’s a silver lining it’s the acceleration of much-needed changes in the way we live and work, and they’re here to stay.”
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