People are working from home out of preference, not just necessity

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. This could be a consequence of the qualities of roles that necessitate postgraduate qualifications, which usually involve cognitive labor that can be done anywhere.

• Six-in-ten of these workers say a major reason they rarely or never work from home is that they prefer working at their workplace, and a similar share (61%) cite feeling more productive at their workplace as a major reason.
• The nature of their work may not offer an option to WFH, such as essential workers (e.g., grocery store employees).
• This would have significant knock-on effects on employment in commercial aerospace, airports, hospitality, and food service.
• Another issue is that the survey data shows some participants may give inaccurate answers to the questionnaire.
• A Deloitte holiday survey indicated that clothing, electronics and toys would be some of the most popular categories for holiday gifts nationwide this year.

Considering only remote work that can be done without a loss of productivity, we find that about 20 to 25 percent of the workforces in advanced economies could work from home between three and five days a week. This represents four to five times more remote work than before the pandemic and could prompt a large change in the geography of work, as individuals and companies shift out of large cities into suburbs and small cities. We found that some work that technically can be done remotely is best done in person. Negotiations, critical business decisions, brainstorming sessions, providing sensitive feedback, and onboarding new employees are examples of activities that may lose some effectiveness when done remotely. As the pandemic subsides, many firms are calling employees back to the workplace. Two-thirds of executives in PwC’s Remote Work Survey said a typical employee should be in the office at least three days a week to maintain a distinct company culture.

Is remote work the future of work?

If the shift to working from home is playing a role in reducing productivity growth, improvements over time in the tooling-up and management of remote work might help diminish that impact. While most studies find no productivity loss from hybrid work, and some find a slight increase, there is some evidence that fully remote work can be a productivity drag. For example, improving technology will make remote work easier to facilitate, Bloom said. Younger firms and CEOs also tend to be more enthusiastic about hybrid work arrangements, meaning they’ll get more popular over time as existing business heads retire, he added. The share of paid work-from-home days has been “totally flat” this year, hovering around 28%, said Bloom in an interview with CNBC.

But for some (36%), there are other reasons why they’re opting to go into their workplace rather than working from home. In October 2020, workers had more trepidation about returning to their workplaces. At that time, only 36% of workers who were working from home because their office was closed said, if it were to reopen in the next month, they’d be comfortable returning (13% said they’d feel very comfortable working in their workplace, 22% said they’d feel somewhat comfortable). Roughly two-thirds said they’d be somewhat (33%) or very (31%) uncomfortable doing this.

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While the share working from home all the time has fallen off somewhat as the pandemic has gone on, many workers have settled into hybrid work. The new survey finds that 41% of those with jobs that can be done remotely are working a hybrid schedule – that is, working from home some days and from the office, workplace or job site other days. Competition for top performers and digital innovators demands that employers understand how much flexibility their talent pool is accustomed to and expects. Employers are wise to invest in technology, adapt policies, and train employees to create workplaces that integrate people working remotely and on-site (without overcompensating by requiring that workers spend too much time in video meetings). The survey results identify obstacles to optimal performance that underscore a need for employers to support workers with issues that interfere with effective work. 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.

Some shoppers at bricks-and-mortar stores were disappointed with the lack of good deals on Friday. Standing outside the Garage Clothing store at the Glendale Galleria with a PacSun bag at his feet, Brandon Kim, 24, of Koreatown was ready to call it a day. A Deloitte holiday survey indicated that clothing, electronics and toys would be some of the most popular categories for holiday gifts nationwide this year. But in https://remotemode.net/ Los Angeles, the top category this year is projected to be gift cards, which could be a sign of economic distress, said Rebecca Lohrey, a retail analyst at Deloitte. U.S. consumers, buoyed by a robust labor market, have demonstrated unexpected resilience even as they contend with stubborn inflation. Her Black Friday was a success, “as long as we’re shopping for him,” Acevedo said, pointing to her 7-year-old son.

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A majority of workers younger than 30 (60%) express at least some concern, compared with 52% of those ages 30 to 49, 47% of those ages 50 to 64 and 44% of those ages 65 or older. And workers with lower incomes (59%) are more likely than those with middle (52%) and upper (40%) incomes to say they are concerned about being exposed to COVID-19 from the people they interact with in person at work. When it comes to having more opportunities to advance at work if they are there in person or feeling pressure from supervisors or co-workers to be in the office, large majorities say these are not reasons why they rarely or never work from home. Only 14% point to opportunities for advancement as a major reason and 9% cite pressure from their colleagues. A smaller but growing share of workers (17%) say relocation to an area away from their workplace, either permanently or temporarily, is a major reason why they are working from home. An additional 8% say this is a minor reason they are working from home, and 75% say this is not a reason.

Chart #13 below, indicates that even seasoned workers feel the pangs of seclusion, despite being more used to remote working. In the survey, 49 percent of all remote workers stated that they did not have the right equipment and materials required to work from home. In doing so, we found out that only a minority of this population (15 percent) are satisfied with their work-life balance, whereas, almost 50 percent of full-time remote workers are satisfied with their work-life balance.See Chart #2 below. The first thing that drew our attention was that 41 percent of new remote workers would like to go back to working from the office after the lockdown. Whereas, only 20 percent of the new remote workers would like to work remotely full-time.

In most office jobs, working from home has been a rapidly growing option for about 15 years. Pre-pandemic, most acceleration in the work-from-home trend occurred in high-skilled white-collar occupations; rates among office and administrative workers were substantially lower. Results are even stronger for organizations with primarily professional and office workers. Almost half believe that, a year after the pandemic subsides, at least 40 percent of their employees will work from home three or more days per week. A small percentage of them miss the social life at office like birthday celebrations, fun activities at work; a few miss the chance to get away from their family, and an even smaller percentage who miss office snacks, gym, conference rooms, etc.

Remote work opportunities provide continuity in operational plans, and not only for government agencies. Telework in a variety of forms should become an integral piece of the emergency preparedness and remote work statistics response plans of companies that secure the 37% of jobs suitable for remote work. On the other hand, companies that facilitate the observance of social-distancing rules have seen an increase in demand.