Remote work gives people the autonomy they want from
their role, knowing their manager trusts that they can be
productive at their own pace and on their own schedule. Create goal-based performance tracking so it’s not about
the hours in the day but the results. In 2019, 82% of survey respondents agreed with the
statement that working remotely would make them feel
more trusted at work. When we followed up and asked
respondents in 2020 if they did indeed feel more trusted
at work while working remotely during COVID-19, more
than three quarters of respondents said yes. Remote work also allows employees to have more
autonomy and feel more trusted by leadership. On the
flipside, more remote employees are nervous about
career progression than they were in 2019.

  • Reduced costs include food, car maintenance, gas, and non-car transportation (bus, train, etc.) [6].
  • We wanted to uncover remote work statistics
    and gather the current work from home trends to
    provide you with a comprehensive remote work
    benchmark report during COVID-19.
  • More unexpected is the finding that, even though they do not commute to work, only 4% of homeworkers do not own a car, the same percentage as among the general labor force.
  • Either way, this telecommuting trend looks set to continue as the popularity of hybrid working grows.
  • And as we’ve seen, many businesses have already begun using video calling tools.
  • The shift toward remote work has tangible effects on the workforce’s income distribution, housing markets, and broader economic indicators across city and state lines.

There are also benefits like improved trust between
management and employees, contributing to employee
job satisfaction. COVID-19 has introduced a new set of priorities for
today’s employee when job seeking, #1 being healthcare
benefits. Employers will need to offer comprehensive
healthcare plans, flexible working hours, and competitive
pay to retain employees and keep up job satisfaction.

Future of remote working

On the contrary, telecommuting was possible for particular industries, such as the tech industry or education. On the other hand, 45% of employees would be entirely satisfied with remote work statistics a hybrid working schedule. 62% of workers feel a sense of more engagement with their work, and 21% would happily give up vacation time for more flexible working conditions.

In general, workers whose jobs require cognitive thinking and problem solving, managing and developing people, and data processing have the greatest potential to work from home. Remote work continues to play a pivotal part in shaping the future of the workplace for the foreseeable future. Rob Sadow, a Flex Index co-founder, expects more such data to emerge highlighting differences in financial results as well as in employee retention rates. For many employers, what may be lost in productivity can at least partly be made up in cost savings from cutting back on office and related expenses.

Interpreting Remote Work Statistics

Since that time, occupancy studies have shown just how inefficient office space was being used. Employees around the globe are not at their desk 50% to 60% of the time! Whether the shift to remote work translates into spreading prosperity to smaller cities remains to be seen.

  • When both parents worked from home, mothers and fathers maintained their paid hours and spent more time on childcare.
  • Data collected from more than 195,600 U.S. employees and more than 31 million respondents through Gallup’s Q12 Client Database.
  • Many office workers prefer heading to a co-working space nearer to their home than commuting to the office each day.
  • Many companies have recently gone on
    record with a
    newly-adopted work-from-anywhere or
    hybrid teams approach including Twitter, Google,
    Facebook, Zillow, Slack, Microsoft, Capital One (and the
    list continues…).

The remaining 17 percent of the workforce could work remotely partially, between one and three days per week (Exhibit 4). In emerging economies, employment is skewed toward occupations that require physical and manual activities in sectors like agriculture and manufacturing. The potential for time spent on remote work drops to 12 to 26 percent in the emerging economies we assessed. In India, for instance, the workforce could spend just 12 percent of the time working remotely without losing effectiveness. This is something Deirdre Mc Gettrick, founder of ufurnish, a UK-based online furniture platform, has seen first-hand.

Emerging remote work trends

This article features some of the most relevant remote work statistics that provide a clear look into the preferences of both workers and their employers. A handful of days in the office and a few days at home make work life a lot easier for many people. Businesses that invested in office space and real estate to host 1,000 workers will be on the short end of the stick.