Data from Drewberry’s 2021 Employee Benefits Survey, which questioned 2,000 workers at UK SMEs, found that 56.3% of SME employees who’d normally be in an office were now working at home due to the pandemic.
This applied to slightly more men (60.8%) than women (53.5%). However, the home working experience of men and women has been very different. The statistics show that:
It would appear that several factors have combined to mean that remote working seems to work less well for women than men.
Women report feeling less productive at home than men. Their mental health has also fared worse since moving to remote working. Meanwhile, the proportion of women stressed due to work and their mental health compared to our last survey has increased considerably.
Yet despite all this, 38.4% of women said they were fairly keen or very keen to continue working from home. Just 18.9% of men said the same. Also, while 20.1% of men wanted to go back to the office 5 days a week, just 9.1% of women felt this way.
Furthermore, 50.5% of women wanted their employer to introduce some form of flexible working, something only 38.6% of men rated as a priority.
Clearly, despite the challenges, women still see benefits in remote working. Employers should therefore take steps to better facilitate this and improve their remote working experience.
Unsurprisingly, women and men have differing needs and priorities in many areas. That means the benefits you introduce to please a female dominated workforce will likely be different than for one with more men.
However, there are plenty of benefits that both men and women would like to see almost equally. For instance:
If you need advice reviewing your employee benefits we are here to provide independent fee free advice. You can call us on 02084327333 or email help@drewberry.co.uk.
Our experts are here to do all the heavy lifting involved with setting up and maintaining a competitive employee benefits package for your business.
Nadeem Farid
Head of Employee Benefits at Drewberry
I’ve held a policy with Drewberry for several years now. They are always friendly, insightful and offer great service.
Or call us on 0208 432 7333
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