Remote Work Statistics By Productivity, Adoption And Benefits And Challenges

Introduction

Remote Work Statistics: During the COVID pandemic, working from home became a requirement for many people. While some had already been working remotely, the pandemic made it more common for others to request it. Working from home has both positive and negative aspects. Some challenges include loneliness, spending more time indoors, and losing the chance to collaborate face-to-face. On the other hand, many people appreciate the extra time they gain from not having to commute and the money they save on travel.

To get a clearer picture of the current work-from-home trends, we surveyed 2,019 people in the UK, analyzed Google searches for remote jobs in the UK and the USA, and reviewed studies from around the world. The result is this 2024 summary of Remote Work Statistics.

Editor’s Choice

• Remote Work Statistics stated that just 8% of US workers with jobs that allow remote work prefer to work entirely in the office, while 33% want to work fully remotely, and 60% prefer a mix of both remote and office work.
• Remote workers save an average of 40 minutes a day by not commuting.
• Since 2020, people have been using video calls 50% more because of COVID-19.
• During the pandemic, around 70% of full-time workers were working from home.
• After COVID-19, 92% of people expect to work from home at least 1 day a week, and 80% plan to work from home at least 3 days a week.
• 23% of people said they would take a 10% pay cut to work from home permanently.
• On average, people saved about $500 per month by working from home during COVID-19, totaling nearly $6,000 per year.
• Only about 20-25% of companies are helping cover the cost of home office supplies and furniture.
• 81% of people think their company will keep supporting remote work after COVID-19.
• 59% of respondents said they’d prefer to work for a company that offers remote work rather than one that doesn’t.
• In 2023, fewer companies had employees working remotely, with only 16.4% offering remote work options, down from 29.8% in the previous year.
• The percentage of private companies that were completely remote stayed nearly the same from 2021 (10.3%) to 2022 (11.1%).
• By September 2023, 72.5% of private companies had very few or no remote workers, an increase from 60.1% the year before.
• Between August and September 2022, 3.1% of private businesses had job openings for fully remote positions.
• In a survey of 1,000 professionals, 65% of those whose benefits changed after switching to remote work said they were more satisfied with their jobs.
• A 2023 study showed that remote workers are 31% less likely to get a promotion and 35% more likely to be laid off.
• Commercial office space values are expected to drop by 15% between 2024 and 2025, mainly due to the rise in remote work.

General Remote Work Statistics

• 98% of remote workers would prefer to work from home for the rest of their careers and would recommend it to others.
• Remote Work Statistics stated that almost 66% of people around the world believe that working from home should be a legal right.
• If remote work were no longer an option, 31% of workers would start looking for a new job, and 6% would quit their current job.
• More than 90% of employees think they are just as productive or more productive in their current work situation than they were the previous year.
• In 2024, 65% of companies will offer some form of work flexibility, a 14% increase from 2023.
• Nearly 90% of companies encouraged their employees to work remotely during the pandemic.

(Reference: intuition.com)

• Before the pandemic, 5.7 million workers in the US were telecommuting.
• Remote workers are found to be 35-40% more productive.
• 55% of remote workers work more hours from home than they would in the office.
• Remote Work Statistics stated that almost 60% of businesses in the US use time-tracking software to monitor remote employees.
• 75% of remote workers say their companies help them stay connected with coworkers for work-related tasks.
• 40% of people would only accept jobs that offer flexible working hours or require them to be in the office at specific times.
• Nearly 16% of employees would take a 20% pay cut to get flexible working hours, and 17% would accept the same pay cut to work remotely.
• 53% of workers are still determining if the company policies they had in 2023 will stay the same in 2024.

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Remote Work Adoption Statistics

• Since the pandemic started, many people have found remote work to be a positive experience. In a survey of 4,000 remote workers, 51% said they are more productive while working from home.
• A large 95% of remote workers feel they are as productive or even more productive than when they worked in the office.

The main reasons they feel more productive include:

• Fewer distractions (68%)
• More focused work time (63%)
• A quieter environment (68%)
• A more comfortable workspace (66%)
• Avoiding office politics (55%)

Remote workers are generally happier than those working in an office. According to CNBC, 57% of remote workers are very satisfied with their jobs, compared to only 50% of office workers.

Other benefits of remote work include:

• 81% of remote workers feel they are paid fairly, compared to 75% of office workers.
• 66% feel they have good or excellent opportunities for career growth, compared to 58% of office workers.
• 54% believe colleagues appreciate their work more, while only 48% of office workers feel the same.
• 75% of remote workers were able to keep up or improve their productivity during the first few months of the pandemic.
• Remote Work Statistics stated that almost 51% of remote workers have no issues maintaining or improving their productivity in tasks that require teamwork. One key reason is social connections.
• Workers who are happy with their social interactions are two to three times more likely to stay productive when working on group projects.
• Research indicates that by 2028, 73% of all departments will have workers who do their jobs remotely.
• In addition, 69% of younger managers let their team members work from home.
• For offices that allow remote work, 74% say their employees work most of the time from home, while only 58% of older managers report the same.
• On average, employees who work remotely put in 1.4 more days of work per month than those working in the office. This adds up to about 16.8 extra days a year.
• Office workers tend to waste 37 minutes a day on non-work activities (not including breaks), while remote workers only lose 27 minutes to distractions.
• Even though remote workers take more breaks, studies show these breaks help them be more productive.
• 54% worked from home at least once a month.
• Remote Work Statistics stated that almost 48% worked remotely once a week or more.
• 30% worked from home full-time.
• According to a Buffer survey, 99% of people said they would like to work remotely at least some of the time for the rest of their careers.

(Reference: backlinko.com)

• A survey showed that after working from home for a year during the pandemic, one-third of Canadians would prefer to commute less than 15 minutes.
• 22% of Canadians want to work from home full-time.
• Remote Work Statistics stated that almost 40% like the idea of a hybrid work setup, mixing both in-office and remote work.
• Only 12% of the 1,500 Canadians surveyed are okay with commuting more than 15 minutes each day.
• Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only 19% of companies were planning to fully return to office work by the fall of 2021.
• Around a third of company leaders were looking into a hybrid model that combines in-person and remote work.

(Source: 99firms.com)

• Employees working in hybrid setups feel more connected to their colleagues compared to those working in offices (79% vs. 70%).
• The connection is strongest among parents of children under 18 who have a hybrid work model (83%).
• Hybrid workers also have a better view of their managers.
• Remote Work Statistics stated that almost 72% of hybrid workers report receiving constructive feedback, while only 57% of office workers and 64% of remote workers say the same.
• Workers are leaving their jobs in search of better options, especially after realizing how technology allows them to work from anywhere.
• The pandemic has shown that cloud-based solutions can provide more flexibility than traditional office setups.
• As a result, some companies are now thinking about offering hybrid or fully remote work as they adjust to the post-pandemic world.

Remote Work Benefits And Challenges

• Over half of remote workers in the US say that working from home helps them maintain a good work-life balance and meet deadlines (Pew Research Center).
• 71% of teleworkers in the US feel that working from home helps them better balance work and personal life.
• 56% of people who work remotely at least sometimes believe it helps them get tasks done and meet deadlines.
• 35% of remote workers report feeling “very engaged” in their jobs.

(Reference: backlinko.com)

• The latest survey reveals that 58% of remote workers feel “somewhat engaged” with their work, and 35% of them consider themselves “very engaged”.
• Meanwhile, 30% of people working from home say they are “somewhat unengaged” in their jobs.

• Flexibility is considered the main benefit of remote work.
• Remote Work Statistics stated that almost 22% of remote workers say the best part is having the freedom to manage their time, 19% enjoy the ability to choose where they live, and 13% appreciate being able to select their work location.
• However, 21% of remote workers also say their biggest challenge is spending too much time at home.
• Other common issues include feeling lonely (15%) and working across different time zones (14%).
• Remote workers also mention that not having to commute and saving money on gas and lunch are major advantages.
• In a survey of workers in 34 countries, 59.65% say that avoiding the commute is one of the best parts of working from home, followed by saving on gas and lunch costs (43.84%) and enjoying flexibility (41.93%).

(Reference: backlinko.com)

Remote Work Hiring And Retention Statistics

• 40% of job seekers say not having flexible work hours is a deal-breaker.
• Flexible schedules are important for attracting and keeping employees, showing how crucial work-life balance is.
• Remote Work Statistics stated that almost 31% of job hunters in 2024 are looking for more flexibility.
• Nearly a third of workers care more about flexibility, like the option to work from home or adjust their hours.
• 41% of small businesses require employees to return to the office, compared to only 27% of larger companies. This shows that smaller businesses are more likely to ask employees to come back to the office than larger firms, which tend to offer more flexible work options.

(Source: cupahr.org)

• 35% of workers would look for a new job if their employer made them work full-time in the office. This indicates that many employees prefer a hybrid work model and that companies may need help to keep staff if they force everyone back to the office.
• 44% of companies still need to offer remote work. Nearly half of businesses require their workers to be in the office, showing that flexible work options still need to be changed for many companies.
• Remote Work Statistics stated that almost 74% of workers say they are less likely to quit if they can work remotely.
• Remote work plays a big role in keeping employees happy and loyal to their jobs.
• 64% of HR professionals say candidates have turned down job offers because they did not offer wellness benefits like flexible hours or opportunities for exercise.

(Reference: explodingtopics.com)

• Offering flexibility can help businesses attract the best talent.
• Small businesses are twice as likely to hire full-time remote workers compared to large companies.
• Smaller companies can save on costs and be more flexible by hiring remote employees.
• 64% of workers believe the traditional 8-hour workday will disappear. Many employees expect a move towards more flexible work hours that focus on productivity rather than strict schedules.

Remote Work Productivity Statistics

• Of 2,100 people who worked remotely after the pandemic, 51% said they became more productive with the new work arrangement.
• Remote Work Statistics stated that almost 55% of professionals surveyed by Owl Labs mentioned that they worked more hours from home than at the office.
• A study by Boston Consulting Group found that about 75% of remote workers said they could keep up their productivity on individual tasks during the first few months of working from home due to the pandemic.

(Source: talentlms.com)

• 51% of remote workers said they were fine keeping up or even improving their productivity on team projects and collaboration, according to Boston Consulting Group.
• A study of 16,000 professionals by Stanford University found that remote work boosted productivity by 13%.
• Airtasker found that remote workers worked 1.4 more days per month than office workers.
• According to PWC, 83% of employers with remote workers reported that the shift to remote work was successful for their business.

(Source: talentlms.com)

• 81% of employees surveyed by GitLab said they were happy with their productivity while working from home.
• Remote Work Statistics stated that almost 53% of employers in a PWC study said that their employees’ productivity improved after moving to remote work.
• 51% of people took an online training course while working from home during the pandemic.

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Employee Mental Health Statistics

• Remote Work Statistics stated that almost 84% of employees say they’d be happier if they could work from home.
• The Tracking Happiness Study found that remote workers are 20% happier than those working in the office.
• 80% of people working remotely experience less stress than their office-based colleagues.
• Remote workers gave themselves a 75 out of 100 score for happiness at work, compared to 71 for office workers. More remote workers feel satisfied with their jobs (57% vs. 50%).
• Remote workers generally have better mental health. 48% say their work-life balance is great, and 54% feel they have the emotional support they need. Workers without flexible hours are twice as likely to report bad mental health.
• 56% of people believe that giving employees more flexibility in their workday is the best way for companies to support their health and wellness.

Conclusion

We’ve reviewed some important Remote Work Statistics, and it’s clear that working from home has a bright future. It helps save time on commuting, increases productivity, and gives employees more time with their families. The main issue left is separating work life from home life, which could be fixed by offering more flexible hours or a mix of working from the office and home.