Remote work has undisputed benefits: you don’t need to waste half an hour commuting to the office, you can plan your day and spend more time with your family. The good news is that the benefits work both ways—not only for employees but also for businesses that can cut costs and improve productivity levels. Check out our list of telecommuting statistics below to find out more.
Telecommuting has become a common practice in the US. Over half of the workforce, there is now telecommuting at least once a month. Additionally, 48% of employees work remotely at least once a week, while 30% do that full-time.
Working from home statistics show that nine out of 10 American workers would gladly accept the opportunity to telecommute, but in reality, not many of them are offered this option as full-time workers. Asked about the amount of time they’d like to spend working from home, the majority of US workers said they would like to telecommute 2-3 days per week.
Telecommuting trends in the last few years have been more than clear—a growing number of workers choose to work from home. A survey carried out by FlexJobs revealed that in 2018, 22% of telecommuters worked from somewhere outside their office more than in 2017.
How popular is telecommuting actually? Currently, there are 4.7 million telecommuters in the US. This means that they account for around 3% of all employed people in the country. Their share is increasing fast, as telecommuting statistics above show.
Another statistic highlighting the levels of popularity telecommuting is reaching is that over a quarter of workers would take a pay cut for an option to telecommute. As data on millennials in the workplace shows, they are the demographic group most prone to this type of thinking. The reason telecommuting gives them the work-life balance that they crave.
Working from home at least part of the week is such a significant plus that it increases the likelihood of an applicant accepting a job offer by 77%, according to working from home data from research by global staffing firm Robert Half.
The same survey shows that, as attractive as it may seem, working from home also has some drawbacks, including abusing the benefit (22%), a feeling of isolation (22%), and strained relationships with your co-workers due to the lack of face time (17%).
Working from home is much more common in the US than in the rest of the world. While the rest of the planet averages at 18%, working remotely full-time in the US is 66% more frequent.
Remote working is not only for regular workers. Statistics on working from home show that executives are also highly likely to choose this option if offered. In fact, compared to their peers working on-site, 18% more executives work remotely.
The work from home option is most common in the healthcare industry. Here is a list that showcases the 5 industries that employ the most remote workers:
Working from home stats reveal that, compared to on-site workers, remote workers are more than twice as likely to earn over $100,000 in a year.
A recent telecommuting survey by Owl Lab found that 26% of remote workers earn more than $100,000 vs. just 8% of on-site workers. The difference is even bigger for those earning over $200,000 – 7% vs 1%, according to the remote working statistics derived from the survey.
Switching to remote work, 38% of workers and 15% of remote managers never underwent any training to prepare them for the new situation. Leaving employees to figure out how to deal with remote working on their own is a practice business owners should definitely avoid, as it can be more costly than investing in their training.
Work from home statistics show that doing your job from a place outside the office does come with some drawbacks. Here are the 5 most common issues remote workers complain about:
This leads us to the question of whether working remotely is worth it?
When asked about their priorities in job prospect evaluation, 70% of American workers placed salary on their list. The work-life balance came on top of their priorities, with 73% of employees seeing it as the most important thing when choosing a job.
Telework trends clearly show that the work-life balance is a thing that US workers appreciate greatly. Here are some of the most commonly listed reasons for working from home:
According to telework statistics, increased productivity is one of the major benefits of telecommuting. Just 3% of workers say they are less productive when working from home, 32% find that their productivity level is unchanged, while 65% of those who work remotely report improved productivity, productivity statistics reveal.
The increased productivity might also have a lot to do with your environment, so take a peek at our modern home office ideas.
We already mentioned that telecommuters are more likely to earn over $100,000 per year. Work from home stats clearly demonstrate that, when compared to those working the same job on-site, telecommuters earn more, regardless of the pay bracket. On average, their annual pay is $4,000 higher.
Workers aren’t the only ones benefiting from telecommuting. In addition to increased productivity, companies that offer telecommuting to their employees also save on real estate costs.
With 25% of their workers working from home, Dell cuts its costs by $12 million a year. No wonder they plan to move at least 50% of their total workforce to full or part-time remote work in 2020.
Telecommuting studies from 2017 found that telecommuting doesn’t only benefit workers and employers; it also helps protect the planet.
With so many people working from home, remote workforce statistics found that greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by the equivalent of removing 600,000 cars from the streets. If we add to the group of telecommuters those wanting to work from home part of the time, savings would be equal to removing 10 million vehicles from the road.
Bigger organizations are more likely to offer telecommuting options to their workers. The reason – they feel the positive effects of this practice the most. Allowing their staff to work from the comfort of their home or anywhere else they like, corporations save around $44 billion a year globally.
Considering the positive impact of working from home on productivity statistics and real estate-related costs, one might think that companies around the world already have enough reasons to introduce this mode of work.
To add to the list of plus sides, those who work from home are more likely to stay with the company longer, increasing their overall retention rates.
Here’s one of the telecommuting facts that should be eye-opening for the companies that still avoid remote work: almost three-quarters of workers would switch jobs if an option that allows telecommuting shows up.
As freelance statistics show, the majority of those who are not confined to their office walls keep working even when traveling. In fact, 81% of remote workers do some job-related tasks when they are out of their home city, remote workers statistics reveal. Believe it or not, freelancers and telecommuters commonly work even when on vacation.
Commutes can play a major role in the decision to switch to working from home. In big cities such as Los Angeles, Paris, or Tokyo you can spend hours in transit every day. Even the global average commute of 33 minutes is not an insignificant amount of time to waste.
Remote working trends are changing, along with the perception that there’s not much room for progress if you don’t spend hours in the office. Nowadays, more than two-thirds of remote workers don’t think that not being in the office physically will have some negative effect on their career development. On the other hand, 23% of their peers fear it might be a setback.
Telecommuting, or telework/e-commuting, is a type of work arrangement that doesn’t require employees to be physically present in an office. Most commonly, they perform their duties from home. Telecommuter, or remote worker, is the term used to describe this type of worker.
Currently, there are around 4.7 million telecommuters in the US. Even though 90% of the workforce would like to have a telecommuting option at work, just around 3% of them actually work for companies allowing work from home. However, the number of telecommuters is increasing. Around 54% of the US workforce is allowed to work from home at least once a month.
Looking at the global data, around 70% of employees work from home at least one day a week. 53% of workers spend at least half of their week working from home. For the past five years, the number of companies that offer their employees the option to work from home has increased by 40%.
Perhaps the main benefit of telecommuting is increased productivity. Currently, the average employee working from home demonstrates increased productivity in 65% of the cases. In 32% of the cases productivity is on par with office workers, while only 3% of the remote workers report lower productivity. However, an organized remote workspace isn’t as easy as it sounds—having a strict routine and managing your time are some of the crucial efforts to be effective when working from home.
Telecommuting is definitely on the rise. More and more fully remote companies are showing up, and employees are flooding them with applications. In just a year, between 2017 and 2018, those who telecommute spent 22% more time working from home.
A traditional work setting is a concept that is quickly disappearing. Businesses realize that cubicles, open office plans, and other methods that were rather aimed at cutting their running costs than increasing productivity can never compete with the comfort of a worker’s own home.
As telecommuting statistics above show, remote working is the future of employment. A future where businesses and happy, productive employees will thrive.
Sources
Great Work Life, FlexJobs, PayScale, ebn, Monster, Small Business Trends, Learning Hub, Buffer, Arhinect, FlexJobs, CNN Money, Benzinga, Fundera, YourBestDigs, BusinessWire, Buffer, Regus