Trends in Remote Work: Will We Still Work from Home After the Pandemic? RDN

This equals about an extra day every week, signaling that the time saved from commuting is spent on the job. This stat, however, also underscores the concern of some employees that working from home makes it harder to separate home from work life as the lines between the two get blurred. 32% were worried about the level of stress experienced during their working time. Other concerns of remote workers include pressure on relationships, blurring the line between home and work life, and long working hours. Remote work statistics during Covid show that 88% of companies around the world encouraged their workers to do their jobs from home throughout the pandemic. 55% of remote employees work more hours at home than at the office. Still, even when accounting for the fact that work arrangements vary widely across demographic groups, some differences remain.

Further revealed that 66% of respondents would stay on with the company but would be less happy if not allowed to work remotely. 73% of all departments were expected to have remote employees by 2028. Men and women who can do their work from home are about equally likely to say they’d want to work from home all or most of the time after the pandemic, but women are more likely than men to say they’d want to work from home all of the time (31% vs. 23%). In fact, the shares of workers with and without children younger than 18 who say they would want to work from home all of the time when the outbreak is over are nearly identical. While large majorities of workers across age groups say they use video calling or online conferencing at least some of the time, workers ages 65 and older are the least likely to say they do this often. This marks a significant shift for most of these workers, a majority of whom (62%) say that they rarely or never worked from home before the start of the coronavirus outbreak. Just one-in-five say they worked from home all (12%) or most (7%) of the time before the coronavirus outbreak, while 18% worked from home some of the time.

The Downstream Effects of Job Burnout

A full 20 percent of workers never want to do it while another 25 percent want to do it full time. Just consider mass transit and elevators in a time of mandatory social distancing. How can you get several million workers in and out of major cities like New York, London, or Tokyo every day keeping everyone six feet apart? If we strictly enforce six feet of social distancing, the maximum capacity of elevators could fall by 90 percent5, making it impossible for employees working in a skyscraper to expediently reach their desks. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the American Community Survey showed that remote work rates had been increasing over the last decade in the United States.

Perhaps the biggest impact of the accelerated shift to remote work is the growing willingness of employers to hire workers outside office commuting zones. These issues created significant barriers—barriers that were removed when pandemic lockdowns forced companies to address them. Employers must find the right balance of in-office and remote workforces that will make their company effective as possible.

Remote Work by the Numbers

Some 36% say they would feel at least somewhat comfortable working at their workplace if it were to reopen in the month following the survey. Across demographic groups, most who say their job can be done from home say they are currently teleworking all or most of the time. Among those in government, public administration or the military, 46% say their job can be done from home and 54% say it cannot.

• Furthermore, when working remotely, no one can tell you when to punch out or go home, so the risk of burnout increases.
• But allowing employees to work from home has many other benefits for employers, such as reduced office costs, access to a wider talent pool, higher retention rates, etc.
• The demand for hybrid work is growing as well, with 80 percent saying they expect or want to work three times per week at home.
• Among workers who are in the same job as they were before the coronavirus outbreak started, more than six-in-ten say they are as satisfied with their job now as they were before the pandemic and that there’s been no change in their productivity or job security.
• Another survey report conducted by Owl labs also states that remote workers are happier and would be more willing to stay in their jobs longer.

These patterns are similar when it comes to potentially passing the virus along to others at work. In addition, lower-income workers (61%) express a higher level of concern than those with upper incomes (48%) about being exposed to the virus . The age gap is less pronounced but still significant when it comes to having an adequate workspace and meeting deadlines and completing projects on time.

The effect of co-location on human communication networks

Experts predict a remote work force is a permanent fixture in the coming years. Workers not required to report in physically will move to attractive residential areas. Places ranked high in best places to live rankings will likely see an influx.

There are the introverts who never wanted to chat about fantasy football leagues. There are the caretakers who used to rush out for school pickup, feeling they were failing to meet unspoken professional expectations and just barely meeting their families’ needs.

Figure 1: WFH now accounts for over 60% of US economic activity

60% of US employees have switched to remote work because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Adoption of remote work is growing and will likely continue to do so post-pandemic. This research includes remote work statistics current data on remote work in practice and a three-part decision framework to help guide HR as organizations adapt to new employee preferences and needs in the new world of remote work.