New research finds that the majority of UK workers – three in four – would accept a pay-cut if it meant they could continue working remotely.
New data from Citrix, a company that offers cloud technologies, finds that the majority of UK office workers desire to keep working from home – even if it means a reduction in salary.
When surveyed, three-quarters of respondents (75 per cent) said that they would agree to this trade-off.
On average, workers stated that they would be willing to part with 14 per cent of their annual salary in order to keep this benefit. As the average annual salary in the UK was £30,472 in 2020, this would lead to a reduction of around £4266 each year.
Despite the majority of workers being willing to opt for a 14 per cent pay cut, over a quarter (27 per cent) stated that they would be comfortable with a reduction of 15-20 per cent of their salary in order to work from home.
Surpassing this, another quarter of workers (26 per cent) expressed that they would take a pay cut of over a fifth of their salary (20 per cent or higher). This ultimately reveals the importance of remote working in UK workers’ lives with many willing to sacrifice a significant portion of their pay to keep the benefit.
When grouping the data by age, employees between 45 and 54 were most likely to accept the largest pay-cut – averaging at around 16 per cent of their pay. Additionally, almost a fifth of workers that fell under this category (17 per cent) were willing to forego over a quarter of their annual salary for remote working.
Conversely, employees aged over 55 were least willing to give up salary for the benefit of remote working. Over a third of this group (36 per cent) stated that they would not be willing to compromise on their salary.
Analysing different regions revealed that workers in the East Midlands were likely to give up 15 per cent of their pay. However, employees in Scotland stated that, although they would also be accepting of taking a pay-cut, most would only agree to a reduction of 9 per cent of their pay.
Darren Fields, Regional Vice President, UK & Ireland, Citrix, said:
We’re now in a world where employees have seen the potential that remote working holds to improve their work/life balance – so much so that they’re willing to forgo a significant portion of their salaries to achieve this on a permanent basis.
Technology allows us to take control of our working lives in a way we’ve never been able to before. Thankfully, those wishing to spend more time working remotely are no longer burdened by outdated cultures and stigmas.
Whether you’re working from home, a collaborative working space or a coffee shop, with the right technology, employees can benefit from the same secure digital workspace they would traditionally have experienced in the office, remaining productive and engaged, wherever they are logged on.
*To obtain these results, Citrix commissioned OnePoll to conduct an online survey of 1,000 UK-based office workers between 30th October 2020 and 4th November 2020.
Monica Sharma is an English Literature graduate from the University of Warwick. As Editor for HRreview, her particular interests in HR include issues concerning diversity, employment law and wellbeing in the workplace. Alongside this, she has written for student publications in both England and Canada. Monica has also presented her academic work concerning the relationship between legal systems, sexual harassment and racism at a university conference at the University of Western Ontario, Canada.
