Workers — particularly those considered “knowledge workers” who are able to do most if not all of their work with a laptop and an internet connection — have been fighting for the right to maintain control over their time for years. While working from home in 2020 and 2021, they demonstrated to their bosses that they are able to maintain, or in some cases even increase, their productivity while working flexibly. Their bosses, on the other hand, have been pulling them in the opposite direction; executives and managers have been fighting to get workers back into the offices that companies are paying a lot of money to lease. This struggle has affected workers and companies alike. Workers quit en masse during a period that became known as “the Great Resignation,” and employers who instituted return-to-office mandates have struggled to hire and retain top talent. Now, especially with Gen Z making up an increasing share of the working population and the conversations around hybrid work and returning to the office stagnating, demands for increased flexibility in work arrangements are still top of mind for many employees and job seekers.
Although many of these dynamics have been in the headlines since 2020, they are not actually new. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, resignations have been steadily increasing for more than a decade.
Part of the reason for this increase, it seems, is that workers have been contemplating the kinds of lives they want and reflecting on the role they want work to play in their lives. The reality is that people spend a lot of their lives working, and because of that, people’s day-to-day work experiences have a substantial impact on how satisfied they are with their lives. The relationship between work experience and life satisfaction has long been established, but given the recent struggles between workers and employers, we wondered how factors related to work flexibility might affect that satisfaction.
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