42% of remote workers plan to work remotely more frequently than they currently do in the next 5 years, and that more than half of on-site workers want to start working remotely.
43% of US employers said they plan to allow their employees to have more remote working opportunities in the next year. Only 9% said they plan to offer less.
Tennessee has 16 state government agencies that employ 6,000 people who telework at least part time. Their program, which is 3 years old, saves employees an estimated $1,800/month in gas costs, and resulted in dropped sick leave by 37%.
After a successful remote work pilot program including 136 employees across 4 state agencies resulted in improved productivity and decreased emissions, the state of Utah is now expanding telecommuting to an additional 2,500 government workers. That's 30% of eligible state employees over the next 18 months.
The Vermont's Agency of Commerce and Community Development is incentivizing remote workers to move to the state with a $10,000 payment over the course of 2 years for people who become full-time residents of Vermont, work from home or a coworking space in Vermont, and meet the program criteria.
In 2018, 16% of roles posted on We Work Remotely belonged to fully remote companies. In 2014, only 2% of roles posted were from fully remote companies with no headquarters.
Managers expect there to be more remote workers on their teams. Five times more hiring managers expect more of their team to work remotely in the next 10 years, than those who expect fewer to work remotely in the next 10 years.
2.9% of the total U.S. workforce, or 3.9 million U.S. employees, work from home at least half of the time. That's a 115% increase since 2005, when there were 1.8 million U.S. employees working from home at least half the time.
Between 2013 and 2017 the percentage of LinkedIn members who said that flexible work arrangements are very important when considering a job increased from 25% to 31%.
A nationally representative survey of U.S. workers conducted by PWC found that 68% of those surveyed believe that, within the next five years, work will be done remotely instead of in a traditional office.
42% of people who are 100% remote said they have been working remotely for more than 5 years. 28% said they have been working remotely for 3 to 5 years. 19% said they have been working remotely for 1 to 2 years. And 11% said they had been working remotely for less than a year.
The number one challenge for fully remote workers is communication (27%). Social opportunities is the second-biggest challenge (16%), loneliness and isolation the third (13%). Other challenges fully remote workers have include setting boundaries, organic interaction, visibility and time zones.
The biggest downside of working remotely is distractions, according to a the Avast Mobile Workforce Report. 46% of small business staff said that ‘getting distracted’ is the biggest downside of mobile working.
Loneliness and collaborating/communicating were tied for the top challenge remote workers face. 21% of remote workers named “loneliness” as their biggest struggle when working remotely, and 21% said collaborating/communicating was their biggest struggle.
20% of full-time employees surveyed strongly or somewhat disagreed that their company provided them with tools to make using their flexible work arrangements easy and productive.
When members of a team who work remotely at least part of the time encountered common workplace challenges, 84% said that the concern dragged on for a few days or more, while 47% said they let it drag on for weeks or more.
Employees who work remotely at least part of the time report that workplace politics are a bigger challenge, and that when conflicts arise, they have a harder time resolving them.
Departments with the greatest remote work participation include facilities/operations/IT (18%), customer support/service/success (14%), and sales (13%), and administrative (11%).
The industries with the most remote workers include healthcare (15%), technology/internet (10%), financial services (9%), education (8%) and manufacturing (7%).
After realizing its female employees were leaving at a rate that was 10-15% higher than their male counterparts, Ernst and Young (EY) began aggressively promoting their “flexibility efforts” in the mid-90s. Twenty-seven years later, EY has said that thanks to formal flexible work, part-time and reduced schedules, and day-to-day flexibility, EY now retains men and women at the same rate. They’ve also reached their goal of promoting more female partners, with women making up about 30% of each new partner class every year.
The average remote worker is 46 years or older, holds a bachelor’s degree or higher, and earns a higher median salary than workers who are based in offices.
Remote.co researched the CEOs and founders of 128 mostly or completely remote companies. 28% of mostly or completely remote companies have female CEOs, founders, or presidents, and 19% have female CEOs. 29% of fully remote companies had either female CEOs, founders, or presidents, and 13% had female CEOs. That's much higher than S&P 500 companies, where 5.2% of CEOs were women as of 2017, and Fortune 500 companies, where 6.4% are women.
Most remote workers are not worried that remote work will impact their career progression. 68% of remote workers surveyed said they aren't worried that working remotely will impact their career progression.
Remote workers are happier at work than non-remote workers. While 71% of remote workers said that they are happy in their job, only 55% of on-site workers said that they are happy in their job.
When asked "Flexible work arrangements would or do allow me to be more productive" 47% of survey respondents said they strongly agree, 31% said they strongly agree, 18% were neutral, 2% somewhat disagreed and 2% strongly disagreed.
People who work remotely at least once a month are 24% more likely to feel productive and happy in their roles, versus those who don't or can't work remotely.
Dice.com asked in an anonymous online survey, “What perks do you want in a job offer?” Remote work was tied with health benefits as the most popular answer (28%).
12% of small business staff would choose not having to work in an office over a pay raise of 25% or more. Only 8% said they would accept a pay raise of 1-5% to give up remote working and work in an office.
Flexible work policies at companies with happy staff and those with unhappy staff were compared in the Staples Advantage Workplace Index study. At companies with unhappy staff, only 17% of those companies offered staff flexible timing and telecommuting, and 48% offered neither flexible timing nor telecommuting.
Flexible work policies at companies with happy staff and those with unhappy staff were compared in the Staples Advantage Workplace Index study. Of the companies with happy staff, 27% offered both flexible timing and telecommuting, and 28% offered neither flexible timing nor telecommuting.
Remote workers say they work more than 40 hours per week 43% more than on-site workers do. However, on-site workers are also working longer weeks because it's required of them, while more remote workers are doing so because they enjoy what they do.
The state of Utah ran a remote work pilot program for 136 employees across four state agencies. The productivity of those employees increased by 23% during the pilot program.
Employers of companies with remote policies believe that remote makes workers more productive. 72% of companies with remote work policies believe that remote work makes workers more productive.
Working remotely means less stress and anxiety that affects productivity. Stress and anxiety affecting the productivity of small business staff was 35% in the office, and only 26% for those working outside of the office.
38% of small business staff said they are most productive when working from home. That's more than said they are most productive when working in the office (35%).
24% of in-office workers said that they "often have to work extra time, over and above the formal hours of my job, to get through the work or to help out". 39% of at-home remote workers said the same.
When asked “Where do you go when you really need to get something done for work?” 7% of people said they would choose "The office during regular office hours, because it’s where I’m most productive."
When asked “Where do you go when you really need to get something done for work?” 25% said "The office during regular office hours, because it’s not an option to leave."
People believe they would be more productive working remotely due to fewer distractions than the office (76%) and fewer interruptions from colleagues (76%).
Ctrip, a 16,000-employee NASDAQ-listed Chinese travel agency, allowed its call center employees to volunteer to work from home, and then randomly assigned those employees to work from home or from the office for nine months. Those who worked from home saw a 13% performance increase. 9% of that performance increase was from working more minutes per shift, because they had fewer breaks and fewer sick days. The remaining 4% performance increase was from more calls per minute. This was attributed to a more convenient, quieter working environment.
The CoSo Cloud Remote Worker Survey found that of the 39% who said they work remotely at least a few times per month, 77% reported higher productivity while working outside of the office. 30% said they accomplished more in less time, and 24% said they accomplished more in the same time.
A study of a 2012 work-from-anywhere program among patent examiners at the U.S. Patent & Trade Office (USPTO) showed that examiners’ work output increased by 4.4% after they transitioned to work from home. That 4.4% productivity increase was found to represent up to $1.3 billion of annual value added to the U.S. economy.
Best Buy reported in 2006 that productivity had, on average, gone up by 35% in departments that shifted to working from wherever they wanted, whenever they wanted.
Nearly a third of remote workers (30%) whose companies had remote policies said they would consider looking for another job if their companies took away the remote work policy.
Of the 52% of employees who wish their current employers allowed remote work, 37% have considered looking for a job that does, and 14% are actively looking.
When asked "Are you likely to leave your current employer in the next 12 months because they don't offer certain flexible work arrangements?" 21% of respondents strongly agreed, 15% somewhat agreed, 19% were neutral, 17% somewhat disagreed and 28% strongly disagreed.
53% of employees surveyed as part of The State of Flexible Work Arrangements say that there’s no official flexible work policy in place at their company.
Nearly 60% of Dell employees work flexibly. The Net Promoter Scores of these employees who work remotely are 20% higher than those who don't work remotely.
50% of employers who offer their employees remote work say that remote work has reduced absenteeism, and 50% said it has saved them operational costs (50%).
47% of Aetna's employees use flexible workspaces. That let Aetna get rid of 2.7 million square feet of office space, a savings of about $78 million annually.
As companies get larger, the growth difference between remote teams and non-remote teams diminishes. Companies who were remote-first and are doing $10M to $75M in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) had 10 to 15% percent slower growth than co-located-first teams. At $75M or over, the difference between remote-first and non-remote-first growth disappears.
Remote companies are growing at a slower rate in their early stages than companies where everyone is co-located. Remote-first teams with $1 to $10M Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) have growth rates that are roughly 20 to 30% lower than their co-located-first counterparts.
Millennials expect to stay at jobs with more flexibility for longer. 17% of millennials said they expect to stay for more than 5 years at organizations with less flexibility, while 55% of millennials expect to stay at organizations where there is more flexibility.
50% of millennials consider flexibility of location where they work and hours to be very important when choosing whether or not to work for an organization.
47% of millennials said they would change jobs to have a flexible working location where they could choose to work off-site full time. Only 31% of Gen Xers and Baby Boomers said the same, a 16 percentage point difference.
Millennials are on the hunt for new positions. 60% of millennials say they are open to a different job opportunity according to Gallup. That's 15 percentage points higher than the percentage of non-millennial workers who reported the same.
Millennials are more likely to change jobs than non-millennials. 21% of millennials said they've changed jobs within the past year. That's more than three times the number of non-millennials who reported the same.
68% of job seekers who are millennials said an option to work remotely would greatly increase their interest in specific employers, according to a survey by AfterCollege.
In August 2019, 31% of companies younger than 2 years old that were posting jobs on AngelList had at least one open remote role, compared to 26% of companies older than 2 years.
Managers favor skills over being in the office together. Two times as many hiring managers cite employees having the right skills as being more important than working in the same location as the rest of the team.
The salary breakdown of remote workers surveyed was 74% earning less than $100k per year, and 26% earning more than $100k per year. In comparison, the on-site worker's salary breakdown was 92% earning less than $100,000 per year, 8% earn over $100k per year.
34% of U.S. workers would accept cut in pay of up to 5% in order to work remotely. 39% of remote workers surveyed would accept the 5% pay cut, and 25% of on-site workers would accept the pay cut.
When asked "How much do you make per year?" 28% of remote workers said they make less than $25,000 USD per year. 18% said they make $25,001 – $50,000, and 19% said they make $50,001 – $75,000. 13% said they make over $125,000.
The number one challenge with remote meetings is connection and audio (31%). Staying engaged (11%) and scheduling (11%) were the next-largest challenges, followed by collaboration.
When asked "Which of the following video/audio chat tools do you use in remote meeting?" 69% said Zoom. 41% said Google Hangouts. 22% said other. 22% said Skype for Business. And 10% said WebEx.
88% of people who have remote meetings have them with their team. 59% have them with other teams at their company. 55% have them with customers, and 36% have them with prospects.
When asked "Approximately how many remote meetings did you have in the last 7 days?" 53% said more than 5. 20% said 4 to 5 meetings. 21% said 2 to 3. And 6% said 1 meeting.
Remote work gives people the opportunity to travel more. When asked "How often do you travel and work outside your home city (including work retreats and conferences)" 44% of remote workers said they travel while working between one week and one month per year. 25% said they work/travel more than one month of the year. Only 7% said that they never traveled and worked at the same time.
Remote workers primarily work from home. When asked where they primarily work from, 78% of remote workers said they use their home as their primary place of work. 9% said they use the office as their primary place of work, coworking spaces came in at 7%, and cafes at 5%.
The total annual environmental impact for the 3.9 million remote workers in the US who work from home at least half-time is: Car miles not traveled: 7.8 billion miles; Car trips avoided: 530 million trips; Tons of greenhouse gases (GHG) avoided (EPA method): 3 million tons; Reduced traffic accident costs: $498 million costs; Oil savings ($50/barrel): $980 million savings; Total air quality savings (lbs. per year): 83 million savings
People who work from home right now in the US avoid emitting 3.6 million tons of commuting-related greenhouse gasses annually. To get the same result, 91 million trees would need to be planted.
In 2017 direct greenhouse gas emissions from businesses and homes accounted for 11.6% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Transportation (including to and from work) is the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has proposed a tax credit for employers who let employees telecommute. Employers would get a $2,000 tax credit for each employee who works remotely rather than commuting to the office.
Xerox's remote workers drove 92 million fewer miles. That saved 4.6 million gallons of gas and reduced carbon dioxide emissions by almost 41,000 metric tons.
The top 10 most penetrated flexible office markets in the US are: San Francisco, Manhattan, Miami, Los Angeles, Austin, Seattle, Denver, Washington D.C., St. Louis, and Charlotte.
Coworking spaces make people happier. In a survey of members of coworking spaces, 89% of respondents said that they were happier since joining a coworking space.
When it comes to personal health and non-romantic relationships, 94% of survey respondents thought flexible work would have a positive impact on their personal life.