Remote Work Statistics: The Ultimate List

Last updated on 11/2/2022

 
 

Remote work: no longer a trend, it's a necessity.

Remote work which many considered a "nice-to-have" has quickly become a "must-have" as people begin to settle into a new routine created by the pandemic with less commute time, more family time, more personal time, and many other advantages. 

Below you'll find a list of new statistics on remote work including the current adoption, future adoption, its challenges, its impact on organizations, and impact on your people's lives. 

Here is how the remote work statistics are broken down:

  1. Remote Work Stats Due to COVID-19
  2. Job Types of Remote Workers
  3. Current Adoption of Remote Work
  4. Future Adoption of Remote Work
  5. Growing Demand for Remote Work
  6. Challenges with Remote Work
  7. Organizational Cost Savings
  8. The Impact of Remote Work on Your People's Lives
 
 

Remote Work Statistics

 
 

Remote Work Stats Due to COVID-19

  • Over 1 in 3 organizations are more willing to consider employing fully remote workers going forward, compared to prior to COVID-19. (SHRM, 2020)
  • 68% of organizations report they probably or definitely will adopt broader or more flexible work from home policies for all workers (SHRM, 2020)
  • 77% of respondents would like to work remotely either full-time or part-time on a permanent basis after the crisis is over (The Predictive Index, 2020)
  • 73% of large (500+) orgs will offer greater work from home policies (SHRM, 2020)
  • 73% of knowledge industry organizations are most likely to plan to adopt broader work from home, versus 63% of service and physical orgs (SHRM, 2020)
  • Over 1 in 4 organizations will probably or definitely allow workers who did not previously work remotely to do so permanently (26%, to work from home full-time through the rest of 2020 (29%) (SHRM, 2020)
continued remote work stat
  • 71% of organizations implementing or considering allowing full-time remote work (SHRM, 2020)
  • 47% percent of behavioral profiles reported feeling less confident in their company’s business strategy than they were before going remote (The Predictive Index, 2020)
  • People with low Extraversion feel their voices are more heard during remote meetings (The Predictive Index, 2020)
  • 33% of respondents had never worked remotely before COVID-19 (The Predictive Index, 2020)
people hadn't worked remotely
 
 

Job types of Remote Workers

  • 18% of executives work remotely more than on-site (Owl Labs, 2019)
  • 35% of remote workers are individual contributors (Owl Labs, 2019)
  • 30% of people report working for a company that's fully remote (Buffer, 2019)
  • 46% of C-suite members work remotely at least part-time (Owl Labs, 2019)
  • 55% of VPs work remotely at least part-time (Owl Labs, 2019)


 
 

Current Adoption of Remote Work

  • 4.7 million employees (3.4% of the workforce) work from home at least half the week (Global Workplace Analytics, 2020)
  • 62% of employees between 22 and 65 say they work remotely at least occasionally (Owl Labs, 2019)
  • 44% of employees say that part of their team is full-time remote. (Buffer, 2019)
  • 58% of people report working remotely full-time, 18% work remotely one to three times per 30 week (Credit Summit, 2022)
  • New employees might work remotely less often at their company. Roughly 75% more on-site workers have worked in their positions for less than a year. (Owl Labs, 2019)
 
 

Statistics on Future Adoption of Remote Work

  • The amount of people who work remotely at least once per week has grown by 400% since 2010 (GetApp, 2020)
  • A whopping 74% of respondents in an annual survey believe that flexible working has become the “new normal.” (International Workplace Group, 2019)
  • New research shows that 80 percent of U.S. workers would turn down a job that didn't offer flexible working (International Workplace Group, 2019)
  • Over half (53%) of U.S. respondents say that having a choice of work location is more important to them than working for a prestigious company (International Workplace Group, 2019)
  • In the past ten years, 83% of U.S. businesses have introduced a flexible workspace policy, or are planning to adopt one (International Workplace Group, 2019)
  • 42% of employees with a remote work option plan to work remotely more often in the next five years (Owl Labs, 2019)
  • Between 2005 to 2017, there was a 159% increase in remote work. In 2015, 3.9 million U.S. workers were working remotely. Today that number is at 4.7 million, or 3.4% of the population. (FlexJobs, 2020)
  • Between 2017 and 2018, telecommuting increased by 22% (FlexJobs, 2018)
 
 

The Growing Demand for Remote Work

  • 99% of people would choose to work remotely, at least part-time, for the rest of their careers (Buffer, 2019)
do people want to work remote
  • 86% of parents now want to work flexibly, compared to 46% pre-coronavirus (Census Bureau, 2020)
  • 75% of current teleworkers say they plan to work remotely for the rest of their career (Amerisleep, 2020)
  • 86% of respondents think a flexible job would reduce their stress, and 89% said they think they would be able to take better care of themselves (FlexJobs, 2020)
  • More than half of full-time in-office employees want to work remotely (Owl Labs, 2019)
  • 95% of people would encourage their friends or family to work remotely (Buffer, 2019)
  • 83% of workers, remote or on-site, say that a remote work opportunity would make them feel happier at their job (Owl Labs, 2019)
  • 81% of employees say that the option to work remotely would make them more likely to recommend their company to job candidates and prospects (Owl Labs, 2019)
  • 74% of employees say that a remote work option would make them less likely to leave their company (Owl Labs, 2019)
  • 65% of respondents are more productive in their home office than in a traditional workplace (FlexJobs, 2020)
  • 84% of remote employees prefer to work from home (Buffer, 2019)
  • 74% of remote employees earn less than $100,000 annually (Owl Labs, 2019)
  • less than 34% would take a pay cut of 5% to work remote full-time while just 24% would take a pay cut of 10% for the same option (Owl Labs, 2019)
  • 69% of millennials will trade other benefits for flexible work options including remote work (IWG, 2018)
  • 47% said they strongly agree that flexible work arrangements “would or do allow me to be more productive” and 31% said they somewhat agree (Zenefits, 2018)
  • 40% of people say that a flexible schedule would be the best perk of working remotely (Buffer, 2019)


biggest benefit to remote work stat
 
 

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The Challenges with Remote Work

  • Less than half of remote employees say they receive proper internet security training (GetApp, 2020)
  • 27% said that “communication” was their number one challenge with remote work (Remote Work Report, 2019)
  • 31% of people “connection and audio” were their number one challenge with remote meetings (Remote Work Report, 2019)
  • 22% of remote employees report that unplugging after work is their biggest challenge (Buffer, 2019)
  • 19% of remote employees report loneliness as their biggest challenge (Buffer, 2019)
  • 75% of people say their companies will not compensate for the internet if they work remotely (Buffer, 2019)
  • 71% of companies also do not compensate for the coworking spaces of remote employees (Buffer, 2019)
 
 

Organizational Cost Savings

  • Businesses would save an average of $11,000 annually per half-time telecommuter (Global Workplace Analytics, 2020)
  • Research has found that a typical employer can save about $11,000 per year for every person who works remotely half of the time (Global Work-from-Home Experience Survey, 2019)
  • 77% say allowing employees to work remotely may lead to lower operating costs (IWG, 2019)
  • 85% of businesses confirm that productivity has increased in their company because of greater flexibility (IWG, 2019)
 
 

The Impact of Remote Work on Your People's Lives

  • 91% of remote workers said working remotely is a good fit for them (Remote Work Report, 2019)
  • 30% of home buyers indicated that a commute between 15 and 29 minutes was their max. And only 12% of home buyers said they were willing to commute an hour or more. (Zillow, 2020)
  • 53% of remote-working home buyers say remote work influence a major home change (Zillow Group Consumer Housing Trends Report, 2019)
how remote work impacts home changes
  • 90% of employees say allowing for more flexible work arrangements and schedules would increase employee morale (IWG, 2019)
  • 43% of remote employees take three weeks or less of paid vacation per year (Buffer, 2019)
  • 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 (Owl Labs State of Remote Work, 2019)
  • 50% of remote employees said working from reduced their sick days and 56% said it reduced their absences (Indeed’s Remote Work Survey, 2018)


 
 

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