Employee Workplace Needs Differ Dramatically by Generation, Study Shows

Nintex, the global standard for process management and automation, today released findings across four generations of employees from the Nintex Workplace 2021 Study which surveyed* 1,000 United States-based full-time workers at companies with 501-50,000 employees.

Most employees in this U.S. study report unexpectedly positive remote work experience and productivity in 2020, but there are notable disparities in how the shift to working from home (WFH) is impacting workers across every generation. In fact, respondents’ top requests to make work more productive and enjoyable varies significantly from one generation of workers to the next.  For instance, the top priority request for each generation is as follows:

• Gen Z: 55 percent desire additional process software to more easily automate work
• Millennials: 50 percent would like better hardware and equipment to improve their home offices
• Gen X: 56 percent would most appreciate more work schedule flexibility to care for dependents
• Baby Boomers: 42 percent prioritize further compensation increases for more work and retirement planning

Additionally, the experience of working remotely is closely correlated with current job level. Longer-tenured, senior employees report adapting more easily to remote work and higher productivity from home. The study found entry-level employees have struggled more to adapt with work task confusion, living situation challenges (59 percent), and feeling over-worked more than their more experienced colleagues (63 percent).

Seventy percent of all respondents said their experiences of working remotely during the pandemic have been better and more productive than they expected. However, many feel their work life would further improve with better home-office equipment (58 percent), the ability to permanently work remotely (51 percent) and software solutions that help them automate manual and repetitive tasks (39 percent) to focus on more valuable work.

“Senior leadership teams and HR professionals that recognize and respond to the generational needs of their employees will be more successful at retaining and recruiting talent this year,” said Nintex Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer Dustin Grosse. “Work-life challenges vary by individual, but companies can do a number of things to improve how productive and fulfilling work is accomplished by all staff members. That includes making manual, paper-based and repetitive work more streamlined and digital with easy-to-use and powerful automation software. Ensuring employees have effective office equipment, like good computers, desktop monitors and/or standup desks is also important. Looking forward, to attract, develop, and retain strong talent HR policies must also provide strong workplace and schedule flexibility and competitive compensation and rewards for important roles and all top performers.”

HR-related highlights from the study include:

• Benefits of remote work abound. More than two-thirds (67 percent) of employees report getting work done more efficiently since transitioning from the office to full-time remote work. When asked to describe their better-than-expected experiences, respondents pointed to no commute, fewer interruptions and better work-life balance.
• Employees report feeling sadder, but not because of remote work. Nearly half (49 percent) of employees are sadder and lonelier than usual while working remotely during the pandemic, but they attribute this to COVID virus-related concerns and restrictions. Additionally, 56 percent of employees said current events, non-work-related, have impacted their attitude and productivity at work.
• Many Boomers’ personal wellness much less affected by recent changes. Forty-five percent of Baby Boomer respondents said there has been no change to their personal wellness while working remotely during the pandemic. Conversely, just 15 percent of Gen Z respondents reported the same.
• Managers and more senior leaders are much more excited about returning to the office than staff. Sixty-three percent of managers and directors, and 62 percent of VPs and C-suite executives are very excited to return to the office as soon as possible. However, only 26 percent of coordinators and specialists share that level of excitement.

The Nintex Workplace 2021 Study also evaluates other important remote work topics including insight on employee mental health and sentiment on returning to the office.

*Methodology

The findings reported in the Nintex Workplace 2021 Study are the result of a commissioned survey conducted by Lucid in September 2020. The survey comprises responses from 1,000 U.S.-based full-time enterprise employees working remotely and gauges employee sentiment toward the evolving workplace. The respondent pool included employees from organizations with anywhere from 500 to more than 50,000 employees, and included employees across ranks, from coordinators to C-suite executives. A complete breakdown here.

Nintex is the global standard for process management and automation. Today more than 10,000 public and private sector organizations across 90 countries turn to the Nintex Platform to accelerate progress on their digital transformation journeys by quickly and easily managing, automating and optimizing business processes.