Workers will continue to seek higher pay, remote work, into 2023: report

Is remote work still the way of the future? The new year has marked the return to in-person work for some employees in Toronto, prompting questions about the future of remote work.

Workplace trends for 2023 indicate that workers will continue to have the upper hand and employers will have to increase pay, benefits and other initiatives around diversity and inclusion if they want to retain staff, a recently released report by employment sites Indeed and Glassdoor shows.

According to the report, Indeed and Glassdoor’s researchers surveyed 4,049 workers aged 18 and older and consulted with economists to determine five trends it says will reshape the labour market in the long-term.

The first prediction of the report states that in 2023 more employees will be asking for promotions and searching for high-paid positions in order to keep up with rising prices due to inflation.

When it comes to employers, the report suggests that they will be more focused on recruitment and employee retention activities, as workers are looking for higher paying jobs.

Here are the top five trends Indeed and Glassdoor predict:

TIGHT LABOUR SUPPLY

The report states that in 2023 workers will have the upper hand in the labour market when it comes to demanding high pay, remote work option or better benefits.

The report warns that the economies of many countries could “slow” or even “fall” into recession as central banks work to lower inflation. As well, the population in Canada will continue to grow due to immigration and the share of people over 65 will rise rapidly, the report said.

REMOTE WORK

A preference for remote work will also continue into 2023, according to the report.

For example, on Indeed, 11.2 per cent of jobs posted in Canada mention remote work (up from three per cent before the pandemic) and 4.2 per cent of job seekers’ searches mention remote work (up from 0.6 per cent).

WORKERS SEEK HIGHER PAY

The survey also found that compensation remains king for job seekers and employers are increasing their benefits to attract talent.

Between August 2019 and August 2022, the percentage of low-wage sectors like personal care and home health, offering paid time off increased from 21.3 per cent to 38.8 per cent.

MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS

According to the report, happiness and well-being became the top priorities recently for many workers and 90 per cent of those surveyed said how they feel at work matters. However, only 49 per cent of those surveyed stated their company is measuring happiness and well-being.

Report findings also show that 46 per cent of people said their expectation around happiness at work has increased in the last year, and 86 per cent of people stated how they feel at work impacts how they feel at home.

After pay consideration, stress, lack of satisfaction and happiness are the other leading reasons people look for new opportunities, the report states.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION

Pushing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace is also a priority for workers in 2023, according to the report.

Researchers state there is a generational divide when it come to attitudes toward DEI initiatives. In the report, 72 per cent of workers aged 18-34 said they would consider turning down a job offer or leaving a company if they did not think that their manager supported DEI initiatives. But when it comes to older age group that attitude changes.

For example, 63 per cent of workers aged 35-44, 60 per cent of those aged 45-54, 52 per cent of respondents aged 55-64 and 45 per cent of workers aged 65 and older said the same.

As well, 67 per cent of respondents aged 18-34 said they would consider turning down a job offer or leaving a company if there was a gender imbalance in company leadership.

However, only 58 per cent of workers aged 35-44 said the same, and a mere 35 per cent of workers aged 65 and older agreed.

When it comes to lack of racial or ethnic diversity, 65 per cent of respondents said they would consider turning down a job offer or leaving a company if there was a lack of diversity in company leadership. Again, those numbers decrease as workers age, with only 55 per cent of workers aged 45 to 54 stating they would turn down a job offer due to lack of diversity, and 43 per cent of those 65 and older stating the same.

METHODOLOGY

Survey Methodology: This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Indeed and Glassdoor from August 30 to September 1 and September 6 to 8, 2022, among 4,049 adults aged 18+, of whom 2,688 were either employed at the time or not employed but looking. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to within +/- 2.8 percentage points using a 95% confidence level.

Reporting for this story was paid for through The Afghan Journalists in Residence Project funded by Meta.