In a global survey, digital workers shared their attitudes about remote work, job change, and what their ideal workplace should offer.

Despite of the current crisis and the drastic change that it brought on millions of people around the globe, most of the digital talent workforce emerged relatively unscathed. Because advanced digital skills are in such high demand with employers that are modernizing their organizations, digital workers have even more options than before—and they know it.

The findings about digital workers’ preferences provide a glimpse of what tomorrow could hold for the entire work force. People in digital roles embraced new work habits during the pandemic and want to maintain some amount of job flexibility. They are citizens of the world, more open than most to working virtually for a company in a different country or moving abroad for work. They care about what’s happening in society and the environment, and they want to work for an employer that shares their values.

These are among the findings from a survey of 9,900 digital talent respondents in 190 countries that The Network and Boston Consulting Group polled as part of the ongoing Decoding Global Talent series:

 

DIGITAL WORKERS ARE EAGER JOB CHANGERS

• Four in ten digital workers are job hunting now, and 73% plan to look for a new job within the next two to three years
• 63% out of those are searching for a better career opportunities

 

DIGITAL WORKERS WANT FLEXIBILITY IN WHERE AND WHEN THEY WORK

• By late 2020, the number of digital workers who said they worked outside the office some or all the time rose to 76%, from 41% in 2018.
• At the time of our survey, the portion of digital workers who were onsite every day—24%—was just half that of people in non digital roles
• In all, 95% of digital respondents want to work from home at least once a week; only a small fraction want to be full time in the office.

 

A MAJORITY OF DIGITAL WORKERS ARE OPEN TO VIRTUAL MOBILITY

• 68% percent of digital workers say they are willing to work remotely for an employer that lacks a physical presence in their country, significantly more than the 57% cross-job average.
• It’s also higher than the 55% of digital workers who say they would move abroad for work.

 

DIGITAL WORKER’S TOP CHOICES FOR WORKING ABROAD ARE CHANGING

• Of those who are open to moving abroad for work, the destinations they’d choose look somewhat different than they did two years ago. Canada is now their top target, knocking the US into second place. Those countries are followed by Australia, Germany, and the UK.
• An even bigger trend is the Asia-Pacific region’s emergence as a go-to destination for a foreign relocation. Several Asian-Pacific countries—including Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, and Japan—increased in popularity since 2018.

 

CHANGING VIEWS OF WHAT MATTERS ON THE JOB

• Although the events of the past two years may have changed where and how people in digital roles work, many of the job attributes they care about the most remain much the same. Chief among those is maintaining an equitable balance between their jobs and their lives outside of work—a familiar refrain among workers from all walks of life during the pandemic.
• Despite the switch from in-person to virtual meetings, digital workers place even more importance now than in the past on good relationships with colleagues and managers and on being recognized for what they do.

 

Digital workers are trendsetters. Software engineers were the first to use agile, a way of working that’s become ubiquitous at organizations around the world and across industries. What today’s digital workers want and value about their jobs, work environment, and employers shows where other talent groups are headed. Organizations that understand this and act accordingly score a double win: securing much-needed talent now, and preparing themselves for the future.

Read the full report to get a deeper understanding of the current trends affecting the digital talent and what can be done to attract and retain it.