Navigating the New Normal: A Comprehensive Guide to Work-from-Home Statistics

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When the shutdowns of 2020 threatened businesses and livelihoods all at once, remote work became the only lifeline for survival. While working from home or away from an office desk isn’t new, its true potential and relevance came through amidst desperate times.

Currently, remote work is more than just an option. It took employees from the confines of an office and granted them ample flexibility to own their time and space. For business, remote work helped recruiters implement policies to suit today’s new normal.

Unlock statistics and insights to gain a deeper understanding of remote work's impact on individuals, businesses, and the industry as a whole.

Key Work-from-Home Statistics

A recent Pew Research Center survey shows that 35% of US workers who can work remotely are working from home full-time. While the number remains significant compared to pre-pandemic data, this is a decline from the previous years (43% in January 2022 and 55% on October 22).

Despite the decrease in the full-time work-from-home structure, remote work isn’t going away soon. According to Gallup, only 6% of employees want to return to the office. It is projected that working entirely on-site will remain in the past as people gravitate toward a more flexible working situation.

Gallup also reveals that 60% of remote-capable workers (those with remote-friendly tasks) highly prefer a long-term hybrid work arrangement. In 2022 alone, the number of remote-capable hybrid workers rose from 42% in January to 49% in June.

With the freedom to work anywhere, remote workers are now ditching their homes to travel as digital nomads. The US has the most people (48%) leading a nomadic lifestyle, according to ThinkRemote, compared to other countries. American digital nomads have grown by an impressive 131% since 2019. Currently, there are 35 million of them worldwide.

Based on the Digital Nomad Index, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Romania rank highest as the best countries for digital nomads. Some of the ranking criteria include broadband speed, broadband cost, monthly rent, and migrant population.

Top Remote Work Industries

Remote assessed more than 6 million job postings on Glassdoor across the UK and US to find out which industries have the most remote work opportunities.

Key Skills Employers Look for in Remote Talent

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Remote work has changed employer expectations, especially for completely remote teams. Businesses with remote teams want individuals who can easily adapt to digital processes, communicate effectively, and deliver work without supervision.

Velocity Global’s survey reveals these top skills business leaders and human resource professionals want to see in a remote worker:

• Communication: 38%
• Digital literacy: 18%
• Independence: 16%
• Time management: 16%
• Motivation: 15%

Benefits and Challenges of Remote Work

1. Employees actually enjoy working from home

Buffer’s state of remote work report for 2023 states that almost all employees enjoy remote work, with 68% of them stating that their experience is “very positive.” Flexibility in terms of time (22%), work location (19%), and residence (13%) remains the biggest benefit of working remotely for them.

On the other hand, 1 in 3 employees admits that staying at home too often and loneliness are their biggest struggles in working from home.

2. Remote work results in better mental health

A whopping 84% of employees affirm that remote or hybrid work would make them happy. The flexibility to work at their own pace and chosen space gets them in a better mood to work. A FlexJobs survey with Mental Health America found that employees without a flexible option are 1.8x more likely to report poor or very poor mental health.

3. Remote or hybrid work contributes to a healthy work-life balance

With flexibility at hand, it’s no surprise that 87% of employees say that remote or hybrid work boosts work-life balance. This is often a crucial factor for talents looking for a suitable job opportunity, with 64% of them willing to forgo good pay for a healthy work-life balance.

Despite this, a study on remote collaboration shows that remote workers work 4 hours more every week or 16 hours more monthly. While one can attribute it to increased productivity, the extra hours they spend at work instead of logging off may lead to added stress and exhaustion.

4. Remote work saves commute time and costs

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the average person saves 72 minutes daily by not commuting. They allocate their time savings to doing extra primary or secondary work (40%), leisure (34%), and caregiving (11%).

Besides time, eliminating the commute also reduces commute expenses. One study showed that workers save an estimated $183 million in direct commuting costs daily based on the standard cost of gas, maintenance, and repairs. This excludes the potential loss of life and property in case of accidents.

Other Work-from-Home Challenges

• Inability to unplug. In 2022, remote workers shared that their biggest challenge is to unplug, according to Statista. People working at home don’t always have a dedicated workspace or home office, making it difficult to separate work from their daily life.
• Collaboration issues. At the start of the pandemic, 75% of employees expressed that their collaboration took the most hit when they began working remotely. And while there have been developments and strategies to support remote connections, a recent Owl Labs report states that teams still regard the office as the best place to meet, team up, and meet new people.

• Varying time zones. Remote work allowed organizations to scout talents from all parts of the world. And while the promise of multicultural, global teams is great, 21% of workers struggle with time differences, which create challenges when coordinating schedules to overcome communication gaps.

• Video call interruptions. For the most part, video calls and conferences replaced face-to-face brainstorming, planning, workshops, and other essential interactions. So, interruptions to these virtual meetings can be a challenge.

Here are the top video call challenges according to Owl Labs:

• Unable to identify the speaker: 72%
• Unable to contribute or take part in a conversation: 70%
• Disengagement: 67%
• Missing visual cues: 63%
• Unable to see the whiteboard: 62%
• Can’t see the presentation: 62%
• Feeling left out: 60%

Remote Work and Productivity

Productivity: Remote Workers vs. In-Office Workers

• A pre-COVID Stanford study found that working from home resulted in 13% increased performance.
  
• Prodoscore research in March and April 2020 shows that productivity shot up to 47% at the height of the pandemic.
  
• Great Place to Work’s two-year analysis of Fortune 500 companies yielded valuable insights into remote and on-site productivity pre- and post-pandemic.

The tabulated data above shows that employees working during the pandemic were able to accomplish more. This may be due to several factors, such as eliminating commute and lengthy face-to-face meetings.

• Statista found that the leading distraction for work-from-home employees is social media (61%). This is followed by smartphones (53.7%), binge-watching (42.1%), kids (33.8%), and gaming (30.4%).

• In a survey by AirTasker, remote employees share that their top secret to staying productive is taking regular breaks (37%). Other tips include having set work hours (33%), keeping a to-do list (30%), working in the same spot daily (25%), and waking up early.
  

Popular Remote Work Tools and Technologies

Several tools and technologies have been helping remote workers stay connected and productive. Some of the most popular tools include the following:

Communication

Microsoft Teams—a communication platform that enables teams to chat, meet, call, and collaborate in one place.

Slack is a popular messaging and collaboration program designed for real-time communication, file sharing, and project collaboration.

Video Conferencing

Zoom—a cloud-based video conferencing platform where individuals and teams can host and join virtual meetings, webinars, and other online events.

Google Meet—a video conferencing tool provided by Google Workspace.

Project Management

Asana—a software that helps teams organize tasks, track projects, assign work, and collaborate on workflows.

Trello—a flexible project management tool that uses boards, lists, and cards to organize and prioritize tasks and projects.

Cloud Storage and Sharing

Google Drive—Google’s cloud storage and file-sharing service that allows users to store, access, and collaborate on files anywhere.

Dropbox—a cloud file hosting and sharing service that lets users store, share, and sync files across devices.

Remote Work Policies and Companies

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Remote work has been around for a while, but its rapid rise has been largely due to the pandemic. This urged companies and organizations worldwide to implement flexible work policies, specifically remote work options.

Remote Work Availability

• “Remote working policy” is the top hybrid and remote trend of 2023, according to ZDNet’s analysis of several articles and surveys
• On a global scale, only 16% of companies are fully remote, while 44% don’t allow remote work at all.
• As of 2022, 56% of US companies permit remote work for some of their employees.
• A recent survey shows that 80% of companies offer flexible work arrangements. Meanwhile, 64% of companies present flexible programs that are informal or without written policy.
• About 70% of organizations will implement remote and hybrid work policies moving forward.

Remote Recruitment and Talent Acquisition

• A FlexJobs survey reported an increase of 12% in remote jobs and 52% in hybrid job postings in 2022.
• About 54% of recruiters plan to onboard candidates remotely and in person.
• The majority of recruiters (68%) and employers (53%) share that candidates often ask for work-from-home options.
• Remote jobs attract more than twice the number of candidates compared to on-site roles.

Managing Remote Teams: Best Practices

Below are some great practices on how to manage remote teams effectively:

• Prioritize employee wellbeing. A study by Microsoft shows that 47% of respondents will put personal and family affairs over work. Personal well-being and mental health also top the reasons why employees quit. It's essential to develop a culture that understands your team’s priorities.

• Quit micromanaging. With diminished in-person supervision, trust is critical to remote setups. While 70.5% say their manager trusts them, 55.3% of employees still saw an increase in micromanagement.

• Reduce meeting times. Microsoft 365 saw a 153% increase in meetings on the MS Teams platform since the pandemic. There was a 46% boost in double meeting bookings, along with a flood of invites. Data shows that in a week, 42% of workers have to multi-task to join meetings. This strain can contribute to decreased focus and productivity.

• Maximize collaboration tools. A global Cisco study shows that 50.4% of hybrid workers consider virtual meetings and collaboration tools as key success drivers of a hybrid setup. Investing in technology is also critical in helping them achieve professional growth.

• Engage teams during in-office schedules. The report shows that 43% of remote employees do not feel included during meetings. Use your onsite schedules to engage everyone on the team.

Remote Work and Career Development

Salary: Remote Workers vs. In-Office Workers

• Recent data from WFH Research shows that hybrid workers are the highest-earning group. They make an average of $80,000 per year.
• On the other hand, fully remote and fully on-site workers earn $74,000 and $55,000, respectively.
• Globally, remote roles pay $3,000 more compared to local salaries.
• The top 10 spots on Indeed’s Best Jobs ranking for 2023 are six-figure roles that are mostly remote or hybrid.
• About 36% of all professional job postings on Ladders (career site for $100k+ salary jobs) are remote.

Remote Work Retention and Turnover Rates

• Remote and hybrid work models have shown higher retention rates since 2019, a study by Remote reports.
• In the same study, the turnover rates for hybrid and remote work are 36.6% and 38.7%, respectively. This is lower than the recorded 41.6% for an office setup.
• About 64% of employees worldwide would consider resigning if asked to work in the office full-time.

Remote Promotions and Career Growth

• Alliance Virtual Offices’ study found that remote workers are 38% less likely to receive bonuses.
• Despite working 50% more overtime, remote workers often receive negative performance reviews and have fewer promotions in general.
• A Stanford study conducted in 2015 shows that while working from home boosts satisfaction, it decreases the chances of being promoted.
• A survey on C-suite executives also reveals that 41% of remote employees are less likely to be considered for promotions.

Remote Work and the Environment

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Environmental Impact

• In April 2020, the lockdowns and the cancellation of commutes helped reduce the global carbon emission by 17%.
• Transportation is responsible for 28% of greenhouse gasses, the largest primary source of carbon emissions. Working from home at least partially lessens the release of greenhouse gases.
• Buildings account for 40% of US carbon emissions. Minimal use of office spaces helps reduce this number and saves businesses significant costs on energy consumption.

Influence on Commercial Space Demand

• In 2020, the office space gross square footage leasing dipped to 26 million square feet by the third quarter compared to 57 million in 2019 during the same period.
• As of May 2023, Kastle’s Back-to-Work Barometer shows an average of 49.3% workplace occupancy. The data analyzes US trends on returning to work.
• With the continued rise of remote work, office demand declined with a 17.8% vacancy rate, according to CBRE.
• The same source also shows that the asking rent is mostly steady at $35.42 per square foot. However, tenants can now negotiate for as low as $3.96 per square foot.

Remote Work Infrastructure

• A Cisco global survey states that 75% of workers believe that broadband services need to improve dramatically.
• Besides the necessity of uninterrupted connectivity, 76% of them also say that fast and stable internet is a key driver of economic growth.
• About 35.75% of remote workers who took the WhistleOut survey said that slow internet diminished their productivity during the pandemic.
• The YESS Electrical survey discovered that 28.09% of remote employees have roles that are fully dependent on the internet. On the other hand, 42.97% of the respondents couldn't complete a half day’s worth of work without WiFi.
• Besides slow speeds, there are other internet-related issues faced by remote workers according to YESS Electrical: loss of documents, program or tool crashes or failure to load, video call connection, website not loading, etc.

Future Outlook on Remote Work

Numerous statistical data back remote work as a game-changer. It allowed the better use of resources and paved the way for unprecedented transformations across industries and organizations. And it’s still evolving! It’s exciting to see where it’ll take us next.

Based on the data in this article, here are some predictions on how remote work will progress in the next years:

• One thing is clear: remote work isn’t going anywhere. The promise of flexibility, along with other factors such as the allure of being a digital nomad or getting higher-paying remote roles, drive people further away from full-office setups.

• The demand for traditional office spaces may continue to decline as remote work becomes more popular. Companies might downsize their office spaces or opt for flexible co-working spaces to accommodate a more distributed workforce.

• The trend of remote workers becoming digital nomads and traveling while working will likely continue.

• When it comes to remote work arrangements, the hybrid will take the lead in the years to come. This is due to employees’ increased preference to work partially at home or in the office. Businesses will need to adapt to this if they want to attract top talents.
  
• More and more companies will invest in tools and platforms to facilitate seamless communication and collaboration, enhancing productivity and team coordination.

• In a few years, the majority, if not all, of companies will have a carefully laid out policy for remote and hybrid work arrangements.