According to a recent poll by Research Co., younger British Columbians are more likely to say they would change jobs if their current employer wouldn't allow them to work from home. (Dreamstime)

By Jordan Davidson

work from home

Younger people more likely to change jobs to work from home

Aug 1, 2023 | 5:23 AM

NANAIMO — Younger people in B.C. are more likely to say if their current job doesn’t offer a work-from-home option, they’ll quit and find a new one which does.

A new poll conducted by Research Co. is showing 39 per cent of workers aged 18-34 have switched jobs at least once since 2020 to be able to work more from home.

Pollster Mario Canseco said he believes this is due to a number of factors.

“One of them is definitely the fact that you get used to what you have. Maybe you have a generation that’s more likely to be doing their laundry or cleaning their house or saving a lot of money because they don’t have to pay transportation costs to go to the office.”

In total, 19 per cent of British Columbians who worked from home at some point during the pandemic left their position after they were not allowed to work from home as often as they’d like once restrictions began to lift.

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It’s a contrast to only nine per cent of pandemic home workers aged 35-54 and two per cent over the age of 55 who have changed jobs in the same time frame for the same reason.

Canseco said this points to a drastic attitude change in the generation, with people over 35 generally not interested in changing jobs for more work-from-home opportunities.

“The younger generation is definitely more in tune with this idea. They’re also more likely to say if the situation changes and if their current work doesn’t let them work at home as often as they’d want to, they’d actively seek different jobs.”

Province-wide, 49 per cent of employed adults say they had to work from home at least temporarily during the pandemic.

Fewer than one in five of those workers (17 per cent) said they are no longer working from home, 32 per cent said they are able to work from home at least once a week, 19 per cent said they do it three or four times a week, and 32 per cent work from home five days a week.

More than 63 per cent of those who currently work from home said they were happy with the arrangement, the same number of people from Sept. 2022.

More than half of those polled (55 per cent) who currently work from home said they are likely to find a different job if their current job does not allow them to work from home as often as they’d like.

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