State Of Remote Work

Since 2020 and the onset of the COVID pandemic, the way we work has been changed forever. As many workplaces had to adapt to different work styles, there have been some interesting findings from the experience. Here’s how remote work affects your company, and what opportunities can it offer you?

Key Findings

• The number of remote workers went up by 24% since 2021, while the number of remote workers has increased by 16%.
• 29% of workers have moved on to a new role in the last year.
• If workers had the option of remote work taken away, 66% of them would start looking for other roles, while 39% would quit their current role.
• 41% of companies are requiring their staff to return to the workplace.
• Only 36% of employers have upgraded their video conferencing equipment since the start of the pandemic.
• 62% of workers say they’re more productive when they work remotely.
• 45% of workers say their work related stress has increased in the last year.
• 49% of workers say their managers see their in office staff as harder workers.
• Hybrid workers save $19.11 each day on average.
• 52% of workers would take a pay cut of 5% or more to have flexibility in where they work.

How Employee Needs Have Changed

While remote and hybrid working were options for some workers pre 2020, they’re now more common than ever before. As such, they feel much more empowered to work in a way that suits them and their needs.

For example, with a hybrid schedule, they can collaborate in the office, and then do deep focus work at home. If your business can offer such a schedule to them, then you’re much likely to retain better talent.

There’s a real preference for remote and hybrid work now, especially from Millennial and Gen Z aged workers. If an employer can’t offer such a schedule when they’re job hunting, then they can simply keep looking until they find an employer who can.

How Employers Can Meet These Needs

With this in mind, employers need to move to embrace remote and hybrid working. While it was seen as a stop gap during the pandemic, you’ll find your employees are often looking to retain a form of that work moving forward.

Before the pandemic, only 8% of employers had remote working policies in place. As of 2022, that number rose to 62%. If you haven’t implemented such a policy in your workplace and are looking to do so, you’ll need to know exactly what your staff want. Some may want full remote work, others will want hybrid work, while some others will be happier in the office full time.

If you are going to make changes to your schedules, you also need to be sure that you stick to them. There are many reports of employees starting jobs as they were promised remote or hybrid jobs, when actually that isn’t what they’ll get. Being open and transparent about what you can offer ensures you’ll get the person you need for that role.

It also means you’ll need to invest in your workspace and remote working tools, if you haven’t already. Many businesses haven’t, as they assumed that post 2020 work would go back to how it was before.

Reducing Stress And Increasing Productivity

One major issue employers had during the pandemic was the perceived productivity of their staff. They felt that they weren’t getting as much done when they were working from home. However, the truth is that 62% of workers were more productive when they were remote.

The truth is actually somewhere in the middle though. While it is much easier to focus on deep focus tasks at home, it’s much easier to do other work in the office. If you’re working on something that needs a lot of collaboration, it’s obviously easier to do that in person. With more employers offering the option of remote and hybrid work, it allows staff to work in an environment that helps them be more productive.

With your workplace comes workplace stress, and you’ll want to ensure you can implement hybrid and remote work without causing issues. In recent studies, 45% of workers say they’ve actually seen a rise in their work related stress levels. However, the causes aren’t directly tied to their workplace. For example, 58% of the employees said they were concerned about a possible recession. With this in mind, you can offer more flexible working to reduce stress from workers in other areas.

Offering Equity In The Workplace

With hybrid schedules comes the issue of equity in the workplace. One such issue to look out for is proximity bias. This is the idea that staff in the office are given better treatment when they’re physically closer to the management. That is something you’ll want to address if you’re looking to introduce hybrid working.

You’ll also need to consider compensation. Around 57% of workers say both remote and in office workers should be paid the same. There is an argument for compensating in house staff more, though. That’s because they incur more costs as a worker, averaging at $862 per month.

These are just a couple of issues you’ll need to have a plan for, if you want to implement remote working in your business.

When writing research papers on this subject, it's crucial to critically analyze the impact of hybrid work models on organizational dynamics and employee satisfaction. Research should delve into how these models affect team cohesion, productivity, and the overall work-life balance, offering evidence-based insights into the evolving nature of the workplace.

The New Workplace

As you’ve seen here, flexibility is key to bring on the best talent. If you’re able to give new staff the perks they want, then you’re more likely to bring on and hold onto the best workers.

Remember that staff are serious about their want for hybrid or remote work. They’re so serious about it that they are willing to drop the amount of compensation they get for work, in order to get it. In fact, there’s a 2% amount of workers that would drop their salary by 20% in order to stay remote.

Being able to offer remote work makes you much more competitive. While it does come with its own challenges, you’ll see a real boost to your business by offering this option.