Half of workers consider options to work-from-home a requirement for a new job

Half of workers in the Netherlands want to make agreements to work from home one or more days a week when they switch jobs, RTL Nieuws reports after surveying over 17,000 members of its opinion panel. People with young children, in particular, won’t even apply for a job if it doesn’t have work-from-home options.

In the age group 26 to 45, the group with children living at home, more than half want the right to work from home in a new job. There is also a strong desire for work-from-home options among people who currently can’t or are not allowed to do so due to their position or sector.

“When I look at vacancies on LinkedIn, which I sometimes do for fun, and there is nothing about space to work from home, I don’t look any further,” a 42-year-old respondent told RTL. “Then I don’t find it interesting anymore. In my eyes, the company shows that it has no confidence in its employees.”

Another respondent, a freelancer in the IT sector, said nearly the same. “Five days in the office? That’s a sign to me that they are old-fashioned, that they don’t understand. Then I don’t have a good feeling about the company.”

According to two respondents, the option to work from home benefits employees’ happiness and the team’s dynamic. And that’s just among the benefits. “If everyone worked from home for two days, traffic jams would decrease,” the first respondent said. “That would make a big difference in CO2 emissions.” It would also save employees money when road pricing, also called the “kilometer tax,” is introduced.

According to RTL, about 75 percent of respondents are positive about working from home. However, the broadcaster noticed that people who don’t work from home often find it annoying that their colleagues do (42 percent) and think that working from home is less productive (33 percent). Compared to only 4 and 6 percent, respectively, among their work-from-home colleagues.

“It is, of course, possible that those who work from home less do so because they have a negative attitude towards it and therefore find it annoying when others do it,” the broadcaster noted.