A new report claims that US based businesses are not addressing the needs of an increasingly “deskless workforce” which thinks flexible working is a right that should be valued more than other benefits. The Future is Flexible: A New Workforce Paradigm Evolving From the Gig Economy (registration) from Quinyx compiles publicly available data alongside a survey of more than 4,000 employed Americans over the age of 18. It claims that, behind wages, flexibility is one of the most important factors of happiness at work for this growing flexible workforce, higher than health benefits, culture, and employee discounts.

The report sets out to study the impact flexibility can have on employee engagement and productivity specific to the flexible workforce. Stated in the report, 2.7 billion deskless workers around the world have been left behind in the rush to innovate technology solutions to improve business performance. These forgotten deskless workers that are employed in industries such as retail, hospitality, quick service restaurants, and construction, are most often not given access to the flexibility and productivity solutions available to employees that work from a desk.