For instance, while teaching has moved to remote work during the pandemic, parents and teachers alike say that quality has suffered. The potential for remote work depends on the mix of activities undertaken in each occupation and on their physical, spatial, and interpersonal context. We first assessed the theoretical extent to which an activity can be done remotely. This depends on whether a worker needs to be physically present on-site to do a task, interact with others, or use location-specific machinery or equipment. More than half the workforce, however, has little or no opportunity for remote work. Some of their jobs require collaborating with others or using specialized machinery; other jobs, such as conducting CT scans, must be done on location; and some, such as making deliveries, are performed while out and about.

• Companies save an average of $11,315 every year on an employee who works remotely part-time, leading to 21% higher profitability.
• The challenge was, prepandemic, hardly anyone did it, so there wasn’t really an ecosystem, the technology.
• For example, the vast majority of employed people in computer and mathematical occupations report having remote-work options, and 77 percent report being willing to work fully remotely.
• But remember, 30 percent of Apple employees, based on our survey data, probably want fully remote.

For women in particular, remote work is a mixed blessing. It boosts flexibility—not needing to be physically co-located with fellow workers enables independent work and more flexible https://remotemode.net/ hours—as well as productivity, with less time wasted commuting. Yet remote work also may increase gender disparity in the workplace, exacerbating the regressive effects of COVID-19.

Special focus: Keeping remote work secure

In fact, 55 percent in America do not work from home ever. They’re folks in McDonald’s, Chipotle, in hospitals, teaching, etcetera. The other half—probably most of your listeners will fall in that bucket—are mainly hybrid. And also, if it’s well organized and well managed, it can improve remote work statistics productivity. The challenge was, prepandemic, hardly anyone did it, so there wasn’t really an ecosystem, the technology. Certainly if you go back to when I first started looking on this, in the early 2000s, we didn’t have cloud, which enables things like Dropbox file sharing.

In the ’70s, it was eight-, ten-, 12-people teams were doing this, and there were thousands and thousands of scientists doing this. If, on the other hand, you want to have ten people from two different offices, it’s maybe hard to get around it. And you have to take a call whether you want 20 small screens or two people on a Tuesday where there’s ten in one room and a big screen, and ten in another.

Employee productivity and WFH benefits

Co-working spaces aren’t just for the self-employed and freelancers. Many office workers prefer heading to a co-working space nearer to their home than commuting to the office each day. This gives them work options, and the freedom to work remotely on their own schedule. Not all teams are prepared to work remotely straight away, and some struggles can arise as team members adjust to their new flexible working schedules. When communication and collaboration are an issue, it’s a good idea to invest in tools that help bring the team together, such as a video or audio call and team messaging. WFH can take some time to get used to, but it can make communication easier when you’ve got the right software.

As the population ages and younger generations become the bulk of the workforce, remote work options are expected to become a standard feature of employment, not a nice perk or benefit. It is true that a large part of today’s workforce could be subsumed under remote work scheduling. 50% of companies in the US have at least some positions that could be moved to remote work [6]. The lack of a commute for remote work means that remote workers save approximately $2,000-$7,000 in costs. Reduced costs include food, car maintenance, gas, and non-car transportation (bus, train, etc.) [6].

Change in remote work trends due to COVID-19 in the United States in 2020

Besides, 97% of respondents said they’d recommend remote working to others. Perhaps in the coming years, this will change as people become more confident with this new working way of life. Coffee shops and co-working spaces are likely to experience an influx of visitors as more people decide to switch to remote working. But in 2020, remote work was all about working from wherever you can, which was usually the kitchen table. Flexible work’s implications for employees and employers—as well as for real estate, transit, and technology, to name a few sectors—are vast and nuanced and demand contemplation.

” And as you know, and everyone’s kind of figured out, is of course if people are coming in on Tuesday to Thursday, you can’t do it. These numbers aren’t huge, but they’re maybe 3 to 5 percent. And secondly, you can hire at least nationally, or if not internationally—depends on the way you’re set up. Particularly think of your tech firm out in Silicon Valley. You can hire certainly across the US, and I remember talking to one exec and they were saying, “We’re hiring in Nigeria and Bulgaria and Mexico.” Just globally. A typical firm is doing something like that with, say, three days in the office, normally Tuesday to Thursday, and two days at home.

Future trends in remote work worldwide from 2020 to 2022

Managers, have intentional conversations
with your team about professional development goals
and continually check in. Check out our
remote
leadership guide for more advice on career
conversations on remote teams. 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.