Flexible working is the most valued benefit for employees, ahead of material perks such as bonuses, according to a new PricewaterhouseCoopers survey.

“Managing Tomorrow’s People: Where will you be in 2020?” explored the work aspirations and expectations of 1,167 professionals across the UK.

Flexible working arrangements were rated the most important benefit by 47 per cent of those surveyed, above performance related bonuses, which came second (19 per cent).

Flexible working was given fairly equal priority by men and women, with 41 per cent and 54 per cent respectively ranking this benefit the most valuable. Moreover a better work-life balance was seen as more achievable in the long term by 42 per cent respondents than vastly increased responsibility and salary (39 per cent).

The survey found that a good company pension plan was the prime perk for 15 per cent of respondents, making it the third most popular benefit. Benefits of less significance were paid time off to do social/humanitarian work (7 per cent), exposure to advanced networking/social activities; and paid training and development (both at 6 per cent).

Other findings include how UK professionals imagine their future working lives. More people picture themselves working in a virtual place, where employees log on from any location, than from centralised hubs in major city centres. Perhaps surprisingly, it is the 16-25 year old bracket alone where a majority imagine an ‘office block’ in a city centre as their future workplace.

Respondents were clear about their future employer. Exactly half would prefer to work for themselves. Almost a third would like to be employed by a company whose values match their own while the remaining 20 per cent want to work for an elite company that employs only the best.

The survey was conducted in early 2010 and was based on a total of 5,746 responses from 113 countries including 1,167 responses from the UK.

The findings on a global level were fairly similar to the UK results, although UK respondents gave higher priority to pensions plans. Globally, just 9 per cent of professionals saw a good company pension plan as the most important benefit.