According to new research from Fiverr, organisations worldwide must adopt various working styles and value skills and output over hours worked to maintain a diverse and competitive workforce.

Fiverr conducted a global study of 9,129 workers (employees and freelancers), exploring the work preferences of various age groups and demographics. The findings help explain the broad appeal of flexible work and the recent growth of the freelance population.

"We at Fiverr are well aware that people can do great work outside the bounds of a 9-5," said Michal Miller Levi, senior director of market research and insights at Fiverr. "Research has shown that the corporate work structure often fails to accommodate the needs of diverse talent, from young workers to parents, who thrive with flexibility and control over their work lives. This next-gen talent pool is the driver of the freelance population growth in recent years as they seek the control to work where and when they are most creative and productive. Fiverr's freelance community has demonstrated that with the flexibility to work wherever they want, at the hours of their choosing, they're able to produce the highest-quality work and carry projects over the finish line."

Globally, 46% of workers surveyed whose work requires them to work with or around others, either virtually or in person, prefer having no more than one meeting daily. 59% of workers surveyed would like meetings to be in-person, either in an office or in another location, such as a coffee shop.

Senior workers are more likely to prioritise in-person interaction; close to half (48%) of respondents at the director level said they wanted to work with colleagues regularly or all of the time. Meanwhile, 29% of entry-level workers surveyed said they prefer communicating with colleagues via text or messaging platforms like Slack.

According to Fiverr, 27% of Gen Z workers surveyed reported feeling most creative and inspired outside of 9-5 work hours. Entry-level workers surveyed were around 20% less likely than the most senior workers (directors) to report that their job met their ideal work preferences (58% vs. 80% respectively).

The research was conducted by Censuswide, among a sample of 9,129 employees and freelancers (aged 16+) in the UK, USA, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, France and Australia.