GitLab has published findings from its annual Remote Work Report, sponsored by Dropbox, Qatalog, and SafetyWing. Building upon last year’s pre-pandemic inaugural Remote Work Report: The Future of Work is Remote, this year’s report is a comprehensive look at remote work, with over 3,900 people surveyed across six continents.
While challenges were faced with pandemic-induced work-from-home last year, companies still experienced remote work advantages including increased productivity (42%) and efficiency (38%), and a reduction in bureaucracy and office politics (24%). Looking to a post-pandemic future, 68% said they plan to continue working remotely, however, many companies are looking to implement a hybrid model. With hybrid work, leaders are forced to balance two fundamentally distinct ways of working, adding an administrative burden to manage a default-onsite and a default-offsite experience.
The contrast of perception and reality
There’s a disconnect between the ostensibly high levels of satisfaction with remote work and the actual pain people are feeling day-to-day. While 4 in 5 would recommend remote working to a friend and 81% of people are satisfied with the level of productivity, teamwork across organizations is struggling. Just over a third (37%) report that their organization does a good job of aligning work across projects.
Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Take The Spotlight
Thirty-four percent of respondents noted that more transparency from leadership leads to a deeper feeling of connectedness at work, while 38% noted that more visibility into the work within the organization improved their sense of connection. Transparency reduces the threshold to contribution and makes collaboration easier, and embracing inclusion overall leads to a stronger feeling of a sense of belonging. GitLab has found that operating at a high level of transparency leads to more engaged and invested team members.
GitLab Inc. surveyed 3,900 adult professionals, aged 21 and older across the US, UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, and South Korea, from February 12, 2021 to March 10, 2021, who were currently working remotely and will continue to after the COVID-19 pandemic.