The trend of working remotely has been slowly increasing globally since 2015, with a one to three percent annual increase rate. However, the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 upended the world economy and global markets. Employment trends were no exception to this, with the share of employees working remotely increasing to some 27 percent in 2022 from just 13 percent two years prior. The industry with the highest share of remote workers globally in 2023 was by far the technology sector, with over 67 percent of tech employees worldwide working fully or mostly remotely. How are employers dealing with remote work? Many employers around the world have already adopted some remote work policies. According to IT industry leaders, reasons for remote work adoption ranged from a desire to broaden a company’s talent pool, increase productivity, and reduce costs from office equipment or real estate investments. Nonetheless, employers worldwide grappled with various concerns related to hybrid work. Among tech leaders, leading concerns included enabling effective collaboration and preserving organizational culture in hybrid work environments. Consequently, it’s unsurprising that maintaining organizational culture, fostering collaboration, and real estate investments emerged as key drivers for return-to-office mandates globally. However, these efforts were not without challenges. Notably, 21 percent of employers faced employee resistance to returning to the office, prompting a review of their remote work policies.

Before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 17 percent of U.S. employees worked from home 5 days or more per week, a share that increased to 44 percent during the pandemic. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the remote working trend, as quarantines and lockdowns made commuting and working in an office close to impossible for millions around the world. Remote work, also called telework or working from home (WFH), provided a solution, with employees performing their roles away from the office supported by specialized technology, eliminating the commute to an office to remain connected with colleagues and clients. What enables working from home?

To enable remote work, employees rely on a remote work arrangements that enable hybrid work and make it safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. Technology supporting remote work including laptops saw a surge in demand, video conferencing companies such as Zoom jumped in value, and employers had to consider new communication techniques and resources. Is remote work the future of work?

The response to COVID-19 has demonstrated that hybrid work models are not necessarily an impediment to productivity. For this reason, there is a general consensus that different remote work models will persist post-COVID-19. Many employers see benefits to flexible working arrangements, including positive results on employee wellness surveys, and potentially reducing office space. Many employees also plan on working from home more often, with 25 percent of respondents to a recent survey expecting remote work as a benefit of employment. As a result, it is of utmost importance to acknowledge any issues that may arise in this context to empower a hybrid workforce and ensure a smooth transition to more flexible work models.

In 2023, the technology industry had the highest share of remote employees worldwide, with 67.8 percent of tech industry employees globally working fully or mostly remotely. The agencies and consulting industry along with the finance and insurance industry came in second and third place, with 50.6 and 48.7 percent of employees working primarily remotely, respectively.

A 2022 survey found that 25 to 35 year old's were the mostly likely to be offered full-time remote work. In comparison, only 29 percent of 55 to 65 year old's reported that they had the opportunity to work remotely full-time. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many workers across the U.S. began working remotely for the first time. The popularity of remote work has continued as pandemic restrictions have relaxed.

According to a survey conducted in October 2023, almost 25 percent of employed persons in Japan had worked remotely at some point in their current job. The share of respondents who had done telework before peaked in 2021 and has been on a downward trend since then. Telework in Japan Telework was not widely spread in Japan before the COVID-19 pandemic. Only 19 percent of businesses offered remote work as an option in 2019. However, the percentage of corporations that had introduced telework more than doubled with the beginning of the pandemic, reaching 47 percent in 2020. Japan’s rigid business culture which emphasizes face-to-face communication was one of the reasons for businesses refraining from offering telework. Low levels of digitalization, reflected in businesses’ reliance on paperwork, and the practice of using hanko seals to sign paper documents in daily business procedures, also held back the spread of more flexible work arrangements. Unequal access to remote working options A closer look at the teleworking population in Japan revealed that remote work was most prevalent in the metropolitan areas of Japan. The uptake of telework was particularly high in Tokyo, where more than one-third of workers had worked remotely before. Employees of large corporations were more likely to engage in telework than those working for small and mid-sized businesses. Furthermore, the survey conducted in 2023 revealed a gender gap among remote workers, with a higher share of men than women doing telework.

In a global survey conducted with CIOs, respondents stated that fully remote work will likely transition to hybrid work in the future. About 15 to 16 percent stated their companies’ workforce worked remotely prior to the pandemic, and as of late 2021, 30 percent of respondents expected the workforce to be working remotely permanently. By 2022, 36 percent of respondents expected to be working in a hybrid model permanently.

Hybrid models of working are on the rise in the United States according to survey data covering worker habits between 2019 and 2024. In the second quarter of 2024, 53 percent of U.S. workers reported working in a hybrid manner. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic saw a record number of people working remotely to help curb the spread of the virus. Since then, many workers have found a new shape to their home and working lives, finding that a hybrid model of working is more flexible than always being required to work on-site.

In 2024, the telework rate of financial industry workers was almost 65 percent. Comparatively, the accommodation and food services industry had the lowest rate, with 1.7 percent of employees able to work fully remotely.

This statistic shows the percentage of workforce that will remain permanently remote post-COVID who were not remote before COVID. A quarter of respondents said they will move at least 10% of their office employees to permanent remote positions. This is not surprising as CFOs are under pressure to tightly manage costs, and they see an opportunity to achieve the cost benefits of a remote workforce.

In 2022, around 21 percent of respondents stated that their biggest struggle when working remotely was staying at home too often because there they don't have reason to leave. Moreover many people who work from home do not necessarily have a designated workspace, they experience a conflation between their living area and workplace. Most notably, around 15 percent of respondents reported loneliness as their biggest struggle with working remotely.

As a result, remotely working employees emphasize the importance of finding strategies to balance their private lives with their professional routines. On the other hand, employees also state having less difficulties with collaboration and communication in 2021. This is likely due to the quick cultivation of skills during the 2020 pandemic that allow them to effectively communicate and collaborate with others when working from different locations.

Challenges inherent in new work set-ups
As employees work from different locations, companies are confronted with the urgency to ease some of the challenges inherent in novel hybrid work solutions. Strategies developed to support remote work include training for employees or expanding information technology infrastructure to ensure that employees can collaborate efficiently from different locations.

The future of work
Certainly, it is important to take the challenges experienced by employees seriously as the current telework trend is likely to continue and become a common way of working in the future. Addressing challenges head-on in the present will ensure better working conditions in the future.

In 2021, 32 percent of respondents currently working at least partially outside of the office indicated that their company has a 100 percent remote policy. This is a slight increase from the previous year. Only 14 percent of respondents stated that remote work in their company is allowed but not the norm, down from 25 percent in 2020. Global shift to new work in 2020 In 2020, the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic led to a shift from work in the office to work from home, to keep the workforce and the community safe. While this created some struggles in the beginning, many organizations and employees have since adapted and are thriving. Many employees appreciate the benefits of working remotely. Accordingly, one in two individuals indicate that the ability to work remotely is an important decision factor for future employment. Companies experiment with hybrid work models As a result, many companies worldwide are updating their policies to accommodate this new way of working. These include a combination of both flexibility on work location and productive in-person and digital collaboration opportunities. For this reason, organizations are not only actively monitoring both employee well-being and productivity but are also evolving operations to support a hybrid workforce.

The percentage of people who mainly work from home in the United Kingdom reached 17.4 percent in 2020, compared with 14.2 percent in the previous year. Since 1998 the number of people that regularly work from home in the UK has increased by 2.73 million after the number of remote workers reached 5.6 million in 2020.

In 2019, 73 percent of people currently working remote said flexible working improved their personal wellbeing and the ability to balance work with outside activities, while 60 percent said it improved their professional development.

A 2022 survey found that 35 percent of employed Americans have been offered full-time remote work. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many workers across the U.S. began working remotely for the first time. The popularity of remote work has continued as pandemic restrictions have relaxed.

According to a survey conducted in April 2023, 24 percent of the French respondents wanted to incorporate more remote working to their working schedule. On the other hand, 16 percent of those surveyed were content with their current pace of work, eight percent of them wanted to do less remote working, and eight percent of respondents did not want to ever work remotely. Finally, 23 percent of respondents mentioned that remote working was not suitable for their job.

According to the survey results, the majority of respondents were currently working fully remote. However, it is expected that in six months, one third of respondents will go back to the office.

With 44 percent, most of respondents state that collaborating on new projects works better than pre-COVID-19. This indicates that maintaining a hybrid workplace post-COVID-19 is a possibility for both employers and employees. However, this does not mean that remote work is always an appropriate alternative to being in the office. Over 30 percent of employees state that coaching and onboarding new hires remotely is worse that pre-COVID.

A 2022 survey found that 42 percent of Black individuals had access to full-time remote working opportunities. In comparison 35 percent of Asian American workers reported access to full-time remote working options. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many workers across the U.S. began working remotely for the first time. The popularity of remote work has continued as pandemic restrictions have relaxed.

This statistic shows the percentage of time employees spend working remotely. According to the survey, 57 percent of respondents are full-time remote workers, while about 27 percent of them work remotely more than half of their time.

In a 2024 study, New Jersey was considered the best state for working from home in the United States with a total score of 64.76. This score is a weighted average across 12 metrics which were divided into two major categories. Examples of metrics include cybersecurity, the percentage of workers working remotely, as well as the cost of internet in each state.