Nearly half, or 46% of non-office workers across five countries consider flexibility at work as important or more important than pay, according to research from Randstad.

The research is based on the views of over 7,500 workers in the US, UK, Australia, France and Germany.

Randstad’s data also indicates that flexibility is emerging as the new frontier for people in blue and grey collar roles, workers who have non-office based roles, such as manufacturing or teaching. The 46% figure is not far behind their white collar counterparts (54%).

Blue collar workers are those who perform manual labor, and can be both high and low skilled. They often work in industries such as agriculture, manufacturing, construction, mining or maintenance.

Grey collar workers are those whose jobs incorporate some of the components of blue and white collar jobs, but not all. They often have a job that involves a service or is customer-facing, but are not based in an office. Examples include airline pilots, police officers or teachers. 

Randstad also found that non-office workers prioritise flexibility in terms of their working schedules, as 30% value this type of flexibility most highly, with only 16% of white-collar workers agreeing. Nearly a quarter, or 22%, of non-office workers consider flexibility in the number of hours worked as most important, compared to only 9% of those in white collar roles.  

Despite the demand for flexibility, 24% of non-office workers have seen increased flexibility since the pandemic. This is compared to 52% of white collar office workers, indicating that an equity gap exists between different types of work.

Sander van ‘t Noordende, CEO of Randstad, said, “Over the last three years, flexibility at work has moved up the agenda for workers across the globe. Historically there has been a perception that flexible working is not possible for non-office roles, but this view is shifting. Our research found that two fifths of non-office workers (40%) think that flexibility is possible in their line of work.”

“For employers, providing flexibility in an equitable way for blue and grey collar workers will have a positive business impact,” Noordende said. “Businesses need to adopt flexibility with intentionality within their strategies, which means understanding that flexibility means different things to different people.”