Less money, more freedom: job seekers voted en masse for partial remote work

Experts are ready to sacrifice their earnings just to spend more time at home

Trends in the labor market in Russia have changed. In conditions of labor shortages, job seekers are increasingly demanding from employers a hybrid work schedule, combining remote work with office work. And the most surprising thing is that employers are increasingly willing to meet these requirements, without doubting the effectiveness of such an organization of the labor process.

These data were revealed by the report “The Impact of Social Trends on the Labor Market,” prepared by experts from Yakov and Partners and the online recruiting platform. 3 days in the office and 2 days from home, sounds convenient: you have time to do your homework, and you don’t have to sit in traffic jams for hours every day. True, there is one danger in this format. Sociologists do not rule out that workers who sit on a comfortable sofa and a work chair at the same time will be paid less than office clerks.

44% of respondents expect that a hybrid work format or the possibility of remote work will become an important part of the new requirements for the social package, noted Natalya Danina, chief expert of the online recruiting platform on the labor market, head of client efficiency.

1.5 thousand applicants took part in the survey. Meanwhile, if we talk about a train driver, a policeman or an operator at a power plant, then a hybrid schedule will not suit them. We must understand that a number of professions are unsuitable for such a transition.

On the other hand, there are many specialists in the country for whom such a schedule will suit. The format allows the employer to control staff, compared to full remote work. From time to time, colleagues will meet in the office, which means the team will continue to exist. Another plus for the employer is space saving. Since the pandemic, some large firms have transferred their employees to a hybrid format (3 days from home, 2 days at the workplace) and, as a result, have reduced the amount of space by more than a third. It turned out that for 2 employees one desk and computer is enough: people alternate.

If we talk about the employees themselves, they are attracted to the hybrid format by the opportunity to save on travel costs. Other obvious advantages include efficient time management. This schedule allows you to do household chores without interrupting work. From a moral point of view, this is also easier: the route home-work-home five days a week during peak hours is very exhausting.

All over the world, mechanisms such as part-time work and remote work have flourished, said Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Chief Researcher at IMEMO RAS, Deputy Head of the Center for Labor Research at the Higher School of Economics Rostislav Kapelyushnikov. According to him, in some countries at the peak of the crisis, 15% of all employees could work in various part-time modes.

“The Russian labor market has always adapted to negative economic shocks, mainly by compressing working hours and lowering wages,” he noted.

Will it turn out that the massive transition of employers to a hybrid schedule will lead to a reduction in wages? How will such a schedule affect efficiency? Alexey Zubets, a professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, told MK about this.

– Any production process depends on motivation. If a person has the motivation to do something at work, then he retains it both in the office and remotely. If his task is to hide and poke around, then he will do this even under the nose of his superiors. The hybrid format allows you to identify slackers: they immediately appear.

– Can employers cut salaries due to the transition to a new format of work?

– Salary reduction is an extreme case. If a person has completed his full working hours, he receives his full salary. Regardless of whether he is at his desk at home or in the office. Retrenchment is a violation of labor laws.

– Let’s imagine the same vacancy, the same responsibilities, the only difference is the format. As a result, office employees will be offered more money. Is it possible?

– You can encounter something like this. You cannot transfer a person who received one hundred thousand to a hybrid format and reduce his salary to 85 thousand. But you can publish new vacancies with lower salaries if the format is combined. There are many people who would prefer freedom of action to money. For example, for older people who find it difficult to commute to work every day, or for mothers who are attached to small children, this schedule will be suitable. At the same time, young people will agree to go to the office every day just to earn more.