Flexible working: No signs of relapse into old patterns
Following a flexibilization of working hours and location in the wake of the Corona pandemic, many feared a return to old patterns in 2022. However, a recent analysis of Swiss job postings by the XING job network suggests that the newfound freedoms have not been jettisoned in the past year.
After two years of the pandemic had acted like a fire accelerator on the transformation of the world of work, 2022 was a touchstone for whether the changes triggered by the virus would last in the long term. An analysis of Swiss job advertisements on the XING job market revealed no general downward trend for the statistical markers on flexible working hours and home office. The values were at a comparable level in both January and November 2022, having tended to rise in the previous two years. Fears that companies will reverse home office options and flexible working after the pandemic are not confirmed by the data analysis.
Companies continue to focus on flexible working
An earlier study conducted by the XING parent company NEW WORK at the beginning of 2022 revealed that employees' expectations regarding home office options significantly exceeded companies' actual plans. If the freedoms employees gained during the Corona crisis are taken away again, companies risk quickly falling behind in the highly competitive candidate market. The results of the current data analysis give reason to hope that companies are aware of this risk and will maintain flexible working arrangements.
Job ads for arts, culture and sports increase at the end of the year
XING's data analysis also drew a comparison of the number of newly advertised jobs between the beginning and end of the year. The markers for job advertisements with flexible working hours and home office remained stable overall in 2022. Compared to the start of the year, there were more job postings in November, especially in the arts, culture, and sports sector. The telecommunications industry saw the sharpest decline. The ranking of the industries in which more new jobs were created presents itself as follows:
- Art, culture and sport
- Automobile and vehicle construction
- Consumer goods and trade
- Health and social
- Tourism and gastronomy
And in these industries, fewer new jobs were published on the platform in November 2022 than in January 2022:
- Telecommunications
- Media and publishers
- Insurances
- Internet and IT
- Banks and financial services
For the study, the job network XING analyzed Swiss job advertisements on its own platform (https://xing.com/jobs) were statistically evaluated for the year 2022. On average, around 110,000 Swiss jobs were available on XING Jobs each month. As a marker for the development of jobs with home office options and flexible working hours, the percentage of newly published advertisements with the corresponding terms in the job title or job description was considered in each case.
