A 2018 study commissioned by Slack, which describes itself as a “collaboration hub that brings the right people, information, and tools together to get work done,” uncovered some important truths about employee engagement and productivity.

The Slack Future of Work Study set out to find answers to these questions and more. Conducted by Kelton Global among more than 1,400 knowledge workers across the U.S., 500 of whom are also Slack users, the survey confirmed workers are looking for a deeper partnership with company decision makers, seek stronger bonds with colleagues, and share a clear desire for better ways to collaborate.

The data shows workers from across the U.S. care about these core principles, with some key differences in the way Slack users and non-users perceive the same topic:

• Trust and Transparency: 80 percent of workers want to know more about how decisions are made in their organization and 87 percent want their future company to be transparent. When asked about the current state of transparency in their organization, 77 percent of Slack users describe their organization as transparent while 55 percent of non-Slack users answer the same way. Companies looking to attract top talent must understand that workers today want workplaces and tools that enable an open culture of communication and collaboration.

• Team Relationships and Connection: 91 percent of workers are looking to feel closer to their work colleagues, while nearly 85 percent of workers want to feel more connected with their remote colleagues. Work connections are central to satisfied teams, even among distributed workers. Overall, Slack found that Slack users are more satisfied with their workplace than non-Slack users (47 percent vs. 37 percent).

• Modern Communication Tools: Only 31 percent of workers are “extremely satisfied” with their current work communication tools while 76 percent hope to have more communication tools available to them in the future. Separately, 70 percent of workers say the availability of Slack would be a factor when evaluating a job offer, ranking this even higher than a fitness stipend (62 percent), catered lunches (59 percent) and weekly happy hours (57 percent). About three-fourths of workers, or 74 percent, prefer the ability to send real-time messages at work when asked about the range of communication tools available to them, from email to in-person conversations.