Press release

U.S. Professionals Drawn to Cities for Career Success Now Want Out

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Sponsored by Businesswire

They were drawn to big cities by the bright lights and career prospects.
Now, beset by a housing crunch and high cost of living, more than half
of professionals living in U.S. cities are ready to leave. According to
a new
study
commissioned by Citrix
Systems, Inc.
(NASDAQ:CTXS), 70 percent of knowledge workers living
in urban locales say they would move to outlying areas if they could
perform their jobs at the same level. And as the battle for talent heats
up around the globe, companies need to follow them and enable remote
work.

“Traditional work models, where work is organized around a hub like a
call center or office building, are fundamentally broken, creating a
frustrating employee experience and exacerbating the war for talent,”
said Tim Minahan, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Chief
Marketing Officer, Citrix. “People today want to work where they want to
work. And to attract them, companies need to rethink what the workplace
means and create a more flexible way to work that enables them to get
the right people in the right places to unlock innovation, engage
customers and move their business forward.”

Conducted by OnePoll,
the Citrix study sought to understand how location impacts job
satisfaction and success and the role that flexible and remote work can
play in enhancing both. Among the key findings:

The bright lights of big cities have dimmed

Of the 5,000 knowledge workers across the U.S. surveyed a majority see
major cities as a key catalyst for their careers due to the large number
of employers operating within them, the availability of more highly
skilled job opportunities and higher salaries.

The benefits of city dwelling are diluted by the costs

But the price of these opportunities is becoming too high to pay. More
than half of those polled (58 percent) cited the costs of city living as
“crippling.” And as a result, they’re ready to move.

  • 70 percent of workers currently living in cities stated they would be
    very likely/fairly likely to consider relocating to suburban or rural
    areas if they knew their professional life wouldn’t suffer and they
    could still perform their role to the same level

The talent crunch is real

And it’s among the biggest pain points companies currently face. Of
those who participated in the OnePoll survey, 31 percent indicated that
sourcing talent for skilled positions is an issue in their organization
and 18 percent suggested it’s likely to become one in the next five
years. Many are taking steps to try to attract a broader range of talent
including:

  • Increasing wages for skilled roles (36 percent)
  • Actively promoting diversity initiatives to encourage applications
    from a range of backgrounds (28 percent)
  • Investing in education and training programs, outside of city
    locations (20 percent)

To attract and retain talent, companies need to go where it lives

But the real ticket to finding and keeping people lies in enabling
flexible and remote work.

  • 85 percent of respondents believe they could do their job just as
    effectively from anywhere
  • 62 percent of those not already working remotely believe that they
    could work away from the office at least one day per week

And they see a number of positives in doing so:

  • 69 percent say working remote would enable them to be more productive
    and focused
  • 83 percent think it would enable them to strike a healthier work-life
    balance
  • 77 percent indicated they could save money by reducing commuting costs

The future of work is happening today. But it needs to happen faster

Companies are beginning to embrace the notion that to get the people
they want and need to make their business go, they’ll need to rethink
the traditional workplace and employee experience. To this end:

  • 35 percent of respondents say they are introducing better flex/remote
    work policies, to widen the talent pool, and
  • 31 percent are searching for talent nationwide, including in rural
    areas

Old technology is stifling new ways of working

But to bridge the talent gap and drive competitive advantage, they need
to pick up the pace. Only 33 percent of workers polled currently work
remotely at least one day per. What’s holding them back?

  • Connectivity was cited as a key challenge by 58 percent of respondents
    who said the current quality of broadband negatively impacts their
    ability to reliably work from home

“Technology can be a great equalizer. Unfortunately, in many areas there
remains a clear divide,” Minahan said. “It’s time for companies to
reimagine the way work gets done and leverage tools that are readily
available to them to create digital
workspaces
that give people the flexibility to work when, where and
how they want and be their most productive. In doing so, they can not
only narrow the technical divide, but create a world-class experience
that enables their employees and business to thrive.”

Methodology

Citrix commissioned a survey of 5,000 U.S. office workers that hold
positions which could be carried out remotely. These are most likely to
be knowledge workers who effectively think for a living. The research
was conducted online by polling company OnePoll (www.onepoll.com)
in March 2019.

About Citrix

Citrix (NASDAQ:CTXS) is powering a better way to work with unified
workspace, networking, and analytics solutions that help organizations
unlock innovation, engage customers, and boost productivity, without
sacrificing security. With Citrix, users get a seamless work experience
and IT has a unified platform to secure, manage, and monitor diverse
technologies in complex cloud environments. Citrix solutions are in use
by more than 400,000 organizations including 99 percent of the Fortune
100 and 98 percent of the Fortune 500.

For Citrix Investors:

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