This marks a significant shift for most of these workers, a majority of whom (62%) say that they rarely or never worked from home before the start of the coronavirus outbreak. Just one-in-five say they worked from home all (12%) or most (7%) of the time before the coronavirus outbreak, while 18% worked from home some of the time. Two-thirds of those in the health care and social assistance sector say the same. The trends accelerated by COVID-19 may spur greater changes in the mix of jobs within economies than we estimated before the pandemic. We find that jobs in work arenas with higher levels of physical proximity are likely to see greater transformation after the pandemic, triggering knock-on effects in other work arenas as business models shift in response.

remote work statistics before and after covid

With the use of the right collaborative technology, the workplace isn’t tied to a physical location, but represents the community of people who work for an organization. 1 in 4 respondents changed jobs or are actively seeking a new opportunity. The “Great Resignation” continues as workers seek out flexible roles that excite them and provide work-life balance, a strong company culture, and compelling benefits. https://remotemode.net/ These offices that people are returning to, though, look a bit different now. Since the start of the pandemic, 22% of companies have reduced office space, while 21% have increased their office footprint. Those increasing their footprint may be investing in satellite offices, additional wellness spaces and collaborative spaces, and bookable desks and meeting rooms for a “shared workspace” style hybrid office.

Working From Home During the Pandemic

Thirty-five percent of remote employees feel more productive when working fully remotely [8]. This could be due to reduced commute times, fewer in-person distractions or the ability to design a work environment that suits their needs. In terms of gender, there is a higher percentage of men who work from home than women. These figures suggest a gender gap in remote work, highlighting the need for more inclusive remote work policies to ensure equal opportunities.

  • Faced with worker shortages and the cost of office space, employers are also offering telework to broaden recruitment pools, reduce turnover, and moderate employee compensation.
  • This article is based on a 25-minute, online-only Ipsos poll conducted on behalf of McKinsey between March 15 and April 18, 2022.
  • Companies will want to be thoughtful about which roles can be done partly or fully remotely—and be open to the idea that there could be more of these than is immediately apparent.
  • Teleworkers are more likely to be married (60%) compared to non-teleworkers (51%), but are about as likely to have children (42% vs. 40%).
  • But in the hybrid world, you’re not around them in the same normal ways that we’ve gotten used to.
  • In China, e-commerce, delivery, and social media jobs grew by more than 5.1 million during the first half of 2020.

In addition, supervisors who use these platforms often are more likely than those who don’t supervise others (but also use video platforms often) to say they feel worn out by the amount of time they spend on these types of calls (47% vs. 33%). Having an adequate workspace at home has also remote work statistics been easy for most teleworkers – 47% of those who are now working from home all or most of the time say this has been very easy, and 31% say it’s been somewhat easy. Here again, those who worked from home prior to the pandemic may have an edge over those who are newer to teleworking.

The self-employed are back at work in pre-COVID-19 numbers, but their businesses have smaller payrolls

On the other hand, companies that facilitate the observance of social-distancing rules have seen an increase in demand. Edtech giant Coursera is expanding its collaboration with universities, while the popularity of Zoom skyrocketed until new collaboration apps emerged or existing ones, such as Microsoft Teams, improved. Grocery delivery apps are also on the rise, with Instacart benefiting from a 150% increase in demand. For those that transitioned to telecommuting, predictions about returning to in-office work remain uncertain. For example, in July 2020, Google estimated they would resume working in-office by the summer of 2021, but in December, they pushed the date to sometime in September 2021. According to these numbers, it would seem that some businesses were hoping the crisis would blow over within weeks.

  • This cluster shows the pattern of the group that does not want to WFH after COVID-19 at all.
  • In the past, homeworkers were thought of as low-paid contingent workers, marginal small business owners, or independent contractors.
  • They decided this summer that they wanted people back in the office at least a couple of days a week, but they wanted people back in the same offices as their teams and managers.
  • Some say it’s time to hang up the pajamas and come back to the office full-time.
  • However, the change from WFH 1–2 days a week to WFH every day inspired some of them to want to work from home more frequently after the pandemic.
  • The individuals voluntarily chose to WFH every day before the pandemic, and the change that comes with the outbreak does not pose an impact on their WFH choices.