Most employees feel there is a disconnect between their current WFH structure and what they would prefer to do. Here are some key statistics I found on the topic:
- 76% of people are working from home because it is a preference, a large jump from 2020 where the number was 60%
- 60% of teleworking employees feel that the switch has made them less connected to their co-workers
- 74% of employees say a remote work option would make them less likely to leave their current company
- 82% of employees would like to work remotely at least once a week post pandemic
Below is a graph of the percentage of people who work from home by industry:
Click here to view the graph image.
Every industry is being impacted by this WFH revolution. Workers have options, and to be competitive for most positions, flexibility on WFH is a very nice carrot.
With this in mind, the size and layout of most of our clients is changing. We are working on this every day. Want to discuss further? Give me a call or send me an email.
Craig
Key Telecommuting Data and Trends
Statistics on how many employees telecommuted before/during the Pandemic?
• 69% of U.S. employees worked remotely at the peak of the pandemic [State of the Remote Workforce, Global Workplace Analytics and OwlLabs, 2020 – based on 2,500 survey responses from full-time workers]
• 5.7 million employees (4.1% of the U.S. employee workforce) telecommuted half-time or more before the pandemic [Global Workplace Analytics’ analysis of 2019 American Community Service (ACS) data]
• Regular telecommuting grew 216% between 2005 and 2019, more than 11 times faster than the rest of the workforce (which grew 20%) and 54 times faster than the self-employed population (which grew by 4%) [Global Workplace Analytics’ analysis of ACS data]
Statistics about how many employees could work remotely
• 56% of employees have a job where at least some of what they do could be done remotely [Global Workplace Analytics]
• 62% of employees say they could work remotely [Citrix 2019 poll]
• Prior to the pandemic, the majority of office space utilization surveys showed people were not at their desks 50-60% of the time; they were already mobile
Statistics about how many employees want to telecommute
• 82% of U.S. employees want to work remotely at least once a week when the pandemic is over. On average, they would prefer to do so half of the time. Only 8% do not want to work from home at any frequency. Nineteen percent said they would like to telecommute full-time. The balance would prefer to work a hybrid-remote schedule. [Global Work From Home Experience Survey, Global Workplace Analytics & Iometrics, 2020 – based on 1,100 U.S. respondents]
• If they were not allowed to work remotely after the pandemic: 54% of U.S. employees say they would stay with their employer but be less willing to go the extra mile and 46% would look for another job [State of Remote Work 2020, Owl Labs]
• Only 12% of federal employees say they would not want to work from home at least some of the time [Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey 2018]
• 35% of employees would change jobs for the opportunity to work remotely full time (47% of Millennials and 31% of boomers); 37% would do so to work remotely some of the time (50% of Millennials and 33% of Boomers) [State of the American Workforce, Gallup, 2016]
• Flexibility is one of the highest-ranked benefits by Millennials, even higher than student loans or tuition reimbursement. It ranked high for Boomers too although the percentages were 15-20 points lower. [State of the American Workforce, Gallup, 2017]
• More than a third of workers would take a pay cut of up to 5% in exchange for the option to work remotely at least some of the time; a quarter would take a 10% pay cut; 20% would take an even greater cut. [State of Remote Work 2019, Owl Labs]
What is the demographic data on employees who work remotely?
• A typical telecommuter is college-educated, 45 years old or older, and earns an annual salary of $58,000 while working for a company with more than 100 employees. 75% of employees who work from home earn over $65,000 per year, putting them in the upper 80th percentile of all employees–home or office-based. [Global Workplace Analytics’ special analysis of 2016 ACS data]
• The chart below shows the percentage of people who work-at-home by industry. [Global Workplace Analytics’ special analysis of 2016 ACS data]
• Using home as a ‘reasonable accommodation’ per the Americans with Disabilities Act, 463,000 disabled employees regularly work from home (7.1% of the disabled).
Statistics on employers that offered remote work before the pandemic?
• Forty percent more U.S. employers offered flexible workplace options than did five years ago. But only 7% make it available to most or all of their employees. [Global Workplace Analytics’ analysis of BLS data, 2019]
• 69% of employers offer remote work on an ad hoc basis to at least some employees, 42% offer it part-time, 27% offer it full time [SHRM 2019 Employee Benefits Survey]
• Larger companies are most likely to offer telecommuting options to most of their employees. [Global Workplace Analytics’ analysis of 2017 ACS data]
• New England and Mid-Atlantic region employers are the most likely to offer telecommuting options. [Global Workplace Analytics’ analysis of 2017 ACS data]
• Full-time employees are four times more likely to have remote work options than part-time workers. [Global Workplace Analytics’ analysis of 2017 ACS data]
• Non-union workers are twice as likely to have access to telecommuting, but union access is growing rapidly. [Global Workplace Analytics’ analysis of 2017 ACS data]
How do employers benefit from remote work?
Based on conservative assumptions, Global Workplace Analytics’ estimates a typical U.S. employer can save an average of $11,000 per half-time telecommuter per year. The primary savings are the result of increased productivity, lower real estate costs, reduced absenteeism and turnover, and better disaster preparedness. Employers can calculate their own potential savings using our free Telework Savings Calculator™ which a report to Congress by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget referred to as “comprehensive and based on solid research.”
How do employees benefit from remote work?
We estimate that employees save between $600 and $6,000 per year by working at home half the time. Those savings are primarily due to reduced costs for travel, parking, and food. They are net of additional energy costs and home food costs.
In terms of time, a half-time telecommuter saves the equivalent of 11 workdays per year in time they would have otherwise spent commuting. Extreme commuters save more than three times that.
Click here for additional benefits for employees who work at home.
How does society and the environment benefit from remote work?
Eliminating or reducing commuter travel is the easiest and most effective way for a company or individual to reduce their carbon footprint. Based on our estimates, if those who have a work-from-home compatible job and a desire to work remotely did so just half the time, the greenhouse gas reduction would be the equivalent to taking the entire New York State workforce off the road. These estimates assume a 75% reduction in driving on telework days.
