While a large majority (60%) of finance professionals are satisfied with the remote working possibilities offered by their company, they now want to go further and explore new work arrangements such as the 4-day week. In addition, 30% of 18-34 year olds would quit their job if they had to return to work full time.
Spendesk, the 7-in-1 professional expense management solution for companies, conducted a study in the finance sector with more than 1,000 French, German and British employees in the finance function on the perception of changing fashions of work at the dawn of the economic crisis.
The telework option is no longer negotiable
The financial professions are investing more and more to improve the quality of working life of their employees. Telecommuting is now an important criterion for internal satisfaction and the majority of finance professionals (between 60 and 70% in France, Germany and the United Kingdom) say they are satisfied with the possibilities offered in this area.
In detail, the digitization work has been carried out successfully in the finance function, in fact 51% of respondents say they have access to everything without any problem and only 18% note a few exceptions that require a trip to the office. In addition, a positive effect of this new form of work, 32% declare that confidence has increased with the generalization of remote work.
However, only 5% of UK businesses budget monthly to help their employees work better remotely. This practice is more common in France where 16% of companies do it. When they do, French companies give around €250 per month to their employees and German companies €100.
Double-edged social interactions
The only cause for concern for employees in the finance function in terms of remote work, unequal treatment of employees indeed, they are almost 39% to fear that their colleagues who go to the office more often will be better rewarded or treated more favorably. by management.
Despite the generalization of telework, there does not seem to be a miracle solution to strengthen social interactions. The lack of connection between colleagues is a problem for third of French employees, and 6% even feel anxiety or isolation in the face of it.
Additionally, remote work raises the issue of trust and autonomy. When asked how trust between colleagues has evolved, two trends emerge.
A third of respondents believe that trust has even increased thanks to teleworking. In contrast, one in four people in Germany and one in three in France and the UK did not notice a difference compared to before. The proportion is particularly high in France, where one in nine people trust their colleagues and employees working from home less. There is, however, a strong correlation with age, as the younger the people, the higher the confidence.
After teleworking, heading for the 4-day week
The pandemic, teleworking and the current rhythms of life have changed mentalities and the relationship to work. The concept of the 4-day week is approved unanimously. But while 79% of finance professionals would like to work on a 4-day week basis, only 11% of companies plan to explore it.
However, this concept is more developed in France, where 20% of companies plan to explore it, compared to only 9% in Germany and 5% in the United Kingdom. We also note that in all countries, the percentage of women who really want to switch to a four-day week is significantly higher (52% vs 35% in France).
Focus on wage policies in the face of inflation
The successive crises have brought with them an increase in the cost of living and inflation has now reached almost 6% over one year. In this context, 80% of respondents believe that a higher salary and/or a bonus are necessary. However, this has only been implemented by 34% of companies. Inflation has not only had the effect of changing expectations of working from home.
It also expresses a hardening and a reduction of certain budgets. For example, in this study, we find that 39% of companies have reduced their budget dedicated to social benefits.
“Hybrid working has become part of the daily life of finance professionals in two years, becoming today an essential prerequisite for retaining the best employees and attracting the most promising talents. In this profoundly changing world of work, the most innovative employers in terms of flexibility in the organization of work will certainly have a head start on their competitors. At Spendesk, we are convinced that digitalization and automation combined with a company policy based on trust and autonomy contribute to this process of optimizing the time of finance professionals so that they can concentrate on tasks with high added value, the most fulfilling for them. says Stéphane Baranzelli, Country Manager France at Spendesk.
Methodology: This survey was conducted online by YouGov between 04/07/2022 and 10/07/2022 among 1050 finance professionals including 350 French people working in financial departments of large cities/urban areas.
About Spendesk:
Founded in 2016, Spendesk is on a mission to free businesses and employees from the complex process of managing workplace expenses. Adopted by more than 140,000 users daily, its comprehensive expense management solution improves collaboration between teams, increases productivity, and provides 100% control to finance teams. Its 7-in-1 platform includes physical and virtual business credit cards, bill payment, expense reimbursement, budgeting, approval, reporting and pre-accounting in one simple and scalable solution. Consisting of a team of more than 500 employees, Spendesk has offices in Paris, London, San Francisco, Berlin and Hamburg.
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