Happiness versus salary. Boardroom versus living room. Burnout versus balance. The things that we all weigh up in our working lives, whether we’re actively job hunting or just considering a change. These days, however, our priorities have definitely shifted from what they used to be—or at least that’s what you told us in our most recent reader survey.
With things like flexible working, financial wellness and company values all piping hot topics right now, we wanted to find out just what it is that’s driving your work life—because while foodie recommendations and travel tips are our bread and butter, we know you can’t live the good life without a good job to fund it. Right now, as it turns out, the two are more intertwined than ever, with increasingly blurred lines between our personal and professional lives.
Having teamed up with Freelancing Gems to dive deep into the thoughts of over 8,000 of you, we’ve got a solid picture on what the new 9 to 5 looks like, and what that means for employees and employers alike—read on to dig into the insights.
Purpose Is The New Promotion
Work isn’t just a means to an end anymore, it’s a key part of our identities, and intrinsically tied to our happiness, purpose and feelings of fulfilment—so we’re not going to stick around at a company that doesn’t tick any of those boxes. In fact, one in five of you said that finding happiness at work is your top priority, while almost as many prioritise getting meaning or purpose from their job—salary doesn’t even crack the top five.
On the flip side, having work-life balance is just as important—no surprise considering few of us are able to leave work at work as work has quite literally taken over our homes. So we want to be happy and fulfilled at work, but we also don’t want it to encroach on our free time, and with half of our respondents having changed jobs in the last year, it’s clear they are willing to go elsewhere to find the perfect life-work blend. 13% of you are even considering leaving full time jobs to start freelancing—because what’s more fulfilling than working for yourself?
Wellness At Work
How’s this for a statistic: 4 in 5 of you shared that you have experienced burnout at work, and 29% told us they feel that burnout is an inevitable part of achieving success. Pandemic or not, those are pretty tragic figures—and ones that need to change if we want to find the happiness and work life balance we’re all craving. Take note employers, because as we already know, freelancing from a beach in Bali is looking more appealing than ever.
Another figure we uncovered is that 38% of us feel unfairly remunerated. Happiness might take priority, but with the cost of, well, everything on the rise, financial wellness is still definitely front of mind, and our wages are certainly not increasing at the same rate as inflation, leading to stress and instability.
Remote Revolution
While working from our kitchen tables, lounge rooms and home offices may have felt isolating during those endless lockdowns, the flexibility of working from home has become something we’re not willing to give up—as workplaces that are now expecting their employees to return to the office five days a week are finding out. While 62% of you are either working fully remote or doing a bit of both, 1 in 4 people aren’t happy with the flexibility their job currently offers—and over half are willing to look for greener pastures should the WFH option be taken off the table.
So what are the takeaways here? Well, for employees, it’s that you’re not alone in expecting work to be more than just a job—or in feeling burnt out, underpaid and ready to embrace the digital nomad life. And for the employers? It’s time to step up if you want to be that dream job we’re all looking for—the where, when, why and who for are all as important as the what.
Want to be a part of our next research piece? Sign up to have us pick your brains here.