Respondents in a workplace survey in Luxembourg enjoyed less flexibility in terms of work location Photo: Shutterstock

Respondents in a workplace survey in Luxembourg enjoyed less flexibility in terms of work location Photo: Shutterstock

Employees in Luxembourg appear more ready to compromise on work-life balance and flexibility compared to staff elsewhere in a global workplace survey.

Recruitment company Randstad on Monday published the 20th edition of its Workmonitor in which around 35,000 staff in 34 job markets around the world participated.

“It’s exciting to see how much has changed in just the past three years,” said Randstad CEO Sander van ‘t Noordende in his opening remarks to this year’s survey. “Gen-Z and Millennials place greater emphasis on values, and organisations increasingly link empathy and workplace experience to workplace intelligence.”

In Luxembourg, however, participants in the study appeared to be willing to give up on some work-life balance and flexibility in favour of a greater feeling of security.

Less flexibility

For example, fewer than half of respondents (46%) said they would refuse a job offer if it would negatively affect their work-life balance. This compared to 61% worldwide. In addition, 42% said they would quit if their job prevented them from enjoying their life, compared to 48% worldwide.

Fewer than a third (29%) said they previously quit because of a toxic work environment, compared to 34% on average globally. And while 33% of respondents on average said they had left a job because it wasn’t compatible with their personal life, this number was at 29% in the grand duchy.

A quarter of those surveyed in Luxembourg said they had practiced quiet quitting, a number below global level (31%).

Only 39% of staff said their job was flexible in terms of location, compared to a higher global average of 51%--a finding, which Randstad said could be linked to the high number of cross-border workers in the country who are subject to limitations on remote working days under double taxation and social security agreements.

Around one in five (21%) said they had quit a job because it didn’t offer enough flexibility, compared to 27% globally.

More security

On the other hand, just 14% of respondents said they worry about losing their job, compared to 37% globally. And 21% of Luxembourg respondents said they worry about the impact of economic uncertainty on their job, compared to more than half (52%) in the worldwide results.

Fewer respondents in Luxembourg (14%) said they would have to work harder in their current job to face the current rise in the cost of living compared to the global average (23%). One in ten said they are looking to take on a second job to deal with the rising prices, well below a global average of 25%. 

The Luxembourg chapter for the Workmonitor included responses from 500 people working in Luxembourg aged 18 to 67. The largest share of respondents worked in public administration (141 people) and education (101), followed by health and social work (59), financial services (39) and business services (28). Other sectors included in the survey rank from agriculture, transport and communications to manufacturing, IT and the hospitality sector.

A slightly smaller share of respondents from Luxembourg (70%) said their job is an important part of their life compared to the global average (72%). The grand duchy was more or less tied with the worldwide numbers for people saying their job gives them a sense of purpose--56% compared to 57%. 

Elsewhere, 36% of respondents in Luxembourg said they wouldn’t accept a job at a company whose social and environmental values don’t align with their own (compared to 42% globally). And more than two thirds (70%) said they feel their employer’s values align with their own, compared to nearly three quarters (73%) around the world.