CINCINNATI — One lasting effect of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be a change in how employees work, with many employers giving an option to work from home, and many employees taking advantage of it.

About 58% of workers are able to work from home at least some of the time, according to the American Opportunity Study.

Flexibility in work was the third-highest motivator for finding a different job behind better pay and hours, and improved career opportunities.

A chance to work from home allows employees to better manage other parts of their lives and spend less time and money one things like commuting, said Susan Masterson, the associate dean for Faculty, Research, and Linder Culture at the Carl H. Linder College of Business at the University of Cincinnati.

The increase in working from home is also changing how workplace relationships are built and maintained, especially for those who are beginning in new positions.

“As we start new employees working in hybrid or even remote positions, I think there have to be very intentional efforts to build that kind of trusting relationship,” Masterson said. “To have opportunities to have relationships beyond just their supervisor so that people have others to go to that they feel really a sense of belonging in the organization and have others in that social network.”

There can also be a loss in socialization at work, and hybrid work can help build it, said Rhett Brymer, an assistant professor in the Department of Management at the university.

Another workplace change that ties into pandemic adjustments is one in the attitude toward work that goes beyond pay, especially among younger employees.

“I think today’s generation is really a lot less concerned than prior generations in getting the maximum paycheck,” Brymer said. “What studies have found is this more recent generation is more motivated by lifestyle, by organizations that have meaningful missions. And so what that means I think for the labor market is that firms that have missions and visions that align with younger workers, they can go out and find workers from any number of places, and it doesn’t need to be from the geographic location they find themselves in.”