Stress will continue to be a concern for many workers in 2018, and that’s a cause for concern for employers struggling with retention issues.
According to a recent survey, 71 percent of employees are so unhappy with their jobs that they are currently looking to change employers. The majority of respondents cite stress as a major factor and believe their jobs are having a significant impact on their mental health. A key solution to this is work flexibility, both for workers and for employers trying to retain employees.
A FlexJobs’ survey of over 5,000 job seekers found that 86 percent of job seekers believe a flexible job would help them be less stressed. Additionally, 45 percent said a job with flexibility would have a huge improvement on their overall quality of life and 52 percent said it would have a positive impact. A “flexible job” is defined as a professional-level job that has a telecommuting, flexible schedule, part-time, or freelance component.
Jobs that offer flexible work options are increasing and available in a wide variety of industries. To shine a light on the fastest-growing career fields, FlexJobs analyzed job listings from the past year to identify the top 10 career categories in which the number of flexible job listings has increased significantly – more than 20 percent. Accounting & Finance, Advertising & PR, and e-commerce are among these high growth fields, indicating they are likely to be strong job categories for flexible job seekers in 2018 as well.
“Work flexibility has many proven benefits and even more anecdotal benefits—including less stress, better health, higher levels of job satisfaction and engagement, and reduced burnout—so it’s not surprising to hear that job seekers are increasingly interested in finding a flexible job,” says Sara Sutton Fell, founder and CEO of FlexJobs. “The good news is that the opportunities in the flexible job market are continuing to grow and diversify, with the availability of flexible jobs increasing as well as the number of companies offering flexible work arrangements.”
The top 10 flexible career categories that have grown the most since January 1, 2017, plus common job titles within those categories, are:
- Editing: copywriter, editor, copy editor
- Writing: technical writer, resume writer, writer
- Data Entry: bookkeeper, data entry clerk, in-field quantitative market researcher
- Advertising & PR: event specialist sales, account executive, account representative
- Event Planning: event coordinator, event assistant, event planner
- News & Journalism: new editor, news writer, news producer
- Internet & e-commerce: social media coordinator, e-commerce manager, digital strategist
- Account Management: account manager, account executive, sales representative
- Computer & IT: IT project manager, systems engineer, business analyst
- Accounting & Finance: staff accountant, bookkeeper, accounting clerk
The career categories with the highest overall number of flexible jobs listings during 2017 are Medical & Health, Administrative, Customer Service, Sales, and Computer & IT. FlexJobs also recently determined the fastest-growing flexible jobs for 2018 and the Top 50 Companies Hiring for Flexible Jobs.
