71 Vital Remote Work and Telecommuting Statistics: 2024 Data Analysis & Predictions

With the recent COVID-19 reaching pandemic proportions and grounding most people to their homes, the idea of employees working and collaborating from home suddenly went from viable to the only remaining option in a matter of days.

Here, we take a look at some remote work and telecommuting statistics that show that the future just got brighter for those who wish to work at home.  If you’re considering moving some or all of your operations to remote work, below are over 70 remote work and telecommuting statistics that can give you tips and ideas, or help you craft your strategies. We’ve also thrown in a few remote work essentials you should consider to make your transition successful.

Employee Remote Work and Telecommuting Statistics

Let’s begin this remote work and telecommuting statistics article with views from the workers themselves. While the concept of working from home is not new (writers, anyone?), the last few years have seen a boom in workers preferring to venture outside the office and use a multitude of collaboration programs to stay connected. This trend was further accelerated with the onset of the ongoing pandemic. However, other than to avoid the risk of contracting the virus, what makes employees want to venture out of the office?

• 65% of employees said they want to be full-time remote employees post-pandemic (FlexJobs, 2020).
• 31% want a hybrid remote work environment (FlexJobs, 2020).
• Compared to on-site workers, employees who work from home at least once a month are 24% more likely to report feeling happier and more productive at their jobs (Owl Labs, 2019).
• 71% of remote workers say they are happy in their job compared to 55% of office-based workers who said the same (Owl Labs, 2020).
• 84% of remote workers actually work from home mostly, compared to 8% working at co-working spaces, and 4% at coffee shops (Buffer, 2019).
• 75% of remote workers said they are more productive because of fewer distractions, while 74% attributed it to fewer interruptions from colleagues (FlexJobs).
• 95% of US knowledge workers prefer working remotely, with 74% willing to quit their present jobs if there is remote work available somewhere else. Also, 31% want to work remotely, but their company doesn’t allow it (Zapier, 2019).
• 73% of employees work outside their work hours as they find themselves more productive (Fuze).
• 49% of remote workers have worked between 1-5 years in their jobs. 21% have worked 6-10, and 22% have worked for more than 10 years. Those who worked for less than one year comprise 8% of the total (Owl Labs, 2019).
• 42.2% of remote workers say they have been working from home between 1-4 years, followed by 33.9% working for more than four years. 12.6% declared working remotely for less than six months, and 11.3% between 6 months to less than a year (Buffer, 2020).
• 80% of remote workers would like to remain remote, while 14% are open for a return to the office (And.Co).
• The average US telecommuter is more than 44 years old and has a college education (Global Workplace Analytics).
• 65% of respondents say they would be more productive working in a home office, while 3% say they would be less productive (FlexJobs).
• Remote employees work 1.4 more days per month than on-site workers, leading to three additional weeks of work per year (Airtasker, 2020).
• 95% of workers view work-life balance as an important factor when looking for work (Fuze).
• 97% are interested in being a flexible worker in the long term (FlexJobs).
• 44% of remote workers chose real-time communication tools as the most vital in maintaining connections (And.Co).
• 99% of workers surveyed say they want to work remotely, whether full or partly, for the rest of their careers. Also, 95% would encourage their co-workers to do the same (Buffer, 2019).

Business Remote Work and Telecommuting Statistics

Remote work not only benefits employees but companies as well. Studies have shown that while productivity increases, costs in running the office decrease. Of course, this is mainly from lesser office spaces needed, and lesser office resources consumed.

• Remote workers are 35% to 40% more productive than their in-office counterparts (FlexJobs, 2020).
• 1 in 4 employees quit their on-site jobs because they found the commute too long (Airtasker, 2020).
• 87% of business owners said they always intended to support remote work compared to 13% who said no
• (Buffer, 2020).
• 70% of hiring managers cite reduction of non-essential meetings, 60% cite increased schedule flexibility, and 54% cite no commute as aspects of remote work that have worked better than expected (Upwork, 2020).
• 83% of surveyed employees feel they do not need to work at an office to be productive (FlexJobs).
• Remote employees are unproductive for an average of 27 minutes a day, 10 minutes less than on-site workers who clocked in 37 unproductive minutes a day (Airtasker, 2020).
• Employers could save $11,000 per employee per year in real estate, electricity, absenteeism, and turnover and productivity if remote work-eligible workers were allowed to work from home half the time. In addition, national productivity will increase by 5 million man-years or $270 billion worth of work (Global Workplace Analytics).
• Loneliness and difficulty with collaborating tied for first place (20% each) as the top challenge of remote working (Buffer, 2020).
• 77% of workers said having a flexible job would make them healthier while 86% said they’d experience lesser stress (FlexJobs).
• Remote workers take an average of 22 minutes break compared to 18 minutes for on-site workers, but they work an additional 10 minutes a day (Airtasker, 2020).
• 40% of workers would be willing to take on a greater workload if it meant greater flexibility, while 18% would take a pay cut for the opportunity (Fuze).
• Remote workers are 13% more likely to remain in their current jobs for the next five years compared to non-remote workers (Owl Labs, 2019).
• On-site workers talk about non-work topics with workmates 66 minutes daily on average, compared to 29 minutes for remote workers (Airtasker, 2020).
• 80% of companies do not pay for remote workers’ internet costs, while 72% do not pay for cellphone costs (Buffer, 2020).
• 76% of respondents also said they would be more loyal to their employers if they had flexible work options (FlexJobs).
• 80% of remote workers believe that by allowing working from home, their employer cares (OWL Labs, 2019).
• 53% of remote workers are less likely to take sick days off even if they are sick (Go Remotely, 2020).

Remote Work and Telecommuting Industry Statistics

Despite common belief, remote work isn’t exclusively for IT jobs. While not all jobs can’t be done at home, some industries stand to benefit more than others. If you’re on the lookout for industries that are more open to telecommuting as a work arrangement, below are some stats to help you.

• 68% of hiring managers say remote work is going more smoothly now than when their company first made the shift at the start of the pandemic (Upwork, 2020).
• 36.2 million Americans will be working remotely by 2025, an increase of 16.8 million people from pre-pandemic rates (Upwork, 2020).
• US employers lose $1.8 trillion annually caused by a lack of productivity due to employee health issues or distractions (Go Remotely, 2019).
• Top 5 industries that utilize the most remote workers are professional, scientific, and technical services (8% work at home, 17% of the total remote workforce); Information (6.4% work at home, 4.8% of the total remote workforce); finance and insurance (5.9% work at home, 9.7% of the total remote workforce); real estate and rental and leasing (5.5% work at home, 3% of the total remote workforce); and wholesale trade (4.3% work at home, 4.1% of the total remote workforce) (Global Workplace Analytics, 2020).
• 83% of remote workers work from their home country (And.Co).
• Two out of three people believe that the traditional office setup will be obsolete by 2030 (Zapier, 2019).
• 43% of offices have a hybrid team of on-site and remote workers, while 30% have employed remote workers in full (Buffer, 2020).
• The number of telecommuters increased by 22% between 2017 and 2018 (FlexJobs).
• Smaller companies are twice as likely to hire remote workers than large businesses (Owl Labs, 2019).

Most Popular Collaboration Software for Remote Work and Telecommuting

The following tools can cover almost all corners of your office process, namely, communication, task management, document management, time-tracking, and accounting. Take note: you have more options when it comes to the best virtual collaboration tools of today.

1. monday.com – a visual task management software where all team members can access, share and collaborate information about tasks. It is a compact but powerful package. You can assign, share, monitor, and view the progress of individual tasks and projects as a whole. Likewise, it lets your team members see how the overall project is faring.
2. PandaDoc – a web-based document management solution for creating and sharing documents. Ideal for quotations, agreements, contracts and the like, the software even lets you affix your official digital signature on your documents. PandaDoc provides unrivaled convenience and portability to official documents.
3. Freshbooks – complete cloud-based accounting software that’s both powerful and easy to use. It’s the perfect solution for small and emerging businesses that need to streamline client invoicing while managing team spending. With remote workers scattered about, you’ll need an accounting software to look out after them no matter where they are.
4. Zoom – videoconferencing software that lets you meet, conduct training and presentations and hold webinars via computers and smartphones. The software can handle up to 10,000 viewers and 100 interactive viewers without missing a beat. As an added convenience, you can also record your meetings and save them in video or audio formats.
5. Dropbox Business – the business version of the popular file-sharing software, which features the same easy-to-use file sharing system we’ve become accustomed to. It also offers off-server storage and multiple-device management. As added security, you can utilize administration controls to secure data like remote wipe and account transfer.

Remote Work and Telecommuting Benefits and Compensation Statistics

Will remote work cost more for employers to implement, and do employees earn more? Apart from salary, do remote workers also get benefits not available to on-site workers?

• 27% of workers are willing to take a 10-20% pay cut to work remotely (FlexJobs, 2020).
• 48% of companies were offering remote work as a benefit in 2019. This has been on an upward trend since 2016 (Payscale, 2020).
• During COVID-19, on average, people are saving $479.20 per month (Owl Labs, 2020).
• 26% of remote workers earn more than $100,000 per year, compared to 8% of on-site workers who earn the same level (Owl Labs, 2019).
• US remote workers save up to $7,000 a year on transportation, food, clothing, and childcare if allowed to work from home at least half of the time. They also gain back the equivalent of  2-3 weeks’ worth of free time per year by avoiding commuting (Global Workplace Analytics).
• 91% of workers believe working from home promotes better work-life balance, while 78% chose remote work to avoid commuting. Also, workers reported increased productivity (79%) and less stress (78%) when working from home (Owl Labs, 2019).
• Mostly due to industry matching, men working remotely are 13% more likely to earn six figures than women (8%) (And.Co).
• Health insurance is almost equally important to remote workers (88%) and on-site workers (89%) (OWL Labs, 2019).
• 44% of remote workers do a bit of traveling while working, while 7% said that they never traveled and worked at the same time (Buffer, 2019).
• Engineers are the top remote work income earners, with 19% earning $100,000 per year or more vs 11% for Marketers and 8% for Creatives (And.Co).
• 10% of on-site workers do not know if their company has flexible work options (Go Remotely, 2019).

Environmental Impact of Remote Work and Telecommuting Statistics

According to Global Workplace Analytics, if remote work-eligible workers were allowed to work from home at least half the time, and just work via project management platforms instead of slogging it to the office Mondays to Fridays, the following effects to the environment may be realized:

• Working remotely saves 40 minutes daily on the commute (Owl Labs, 2020).
• Greenhouse gases will be reduced by 54 million tons, equal to removing 10 million cars off the road for a year (Global Workplace Analytics).
• 119 billion miles of roads and highways will experience reduced wear and tear and save hundreds of millions in maintenance (Global Workplace Analytics).
• Almost 90,000 people will be spared from traffic injuries or deaths while saving $10 billion a year in accident-related costs (Global Workplace Analytics).
• The US can save over 640 million barrels of oil valued at over $64 billion (Global Workplace Analytics).
• 3.6 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions are prevented from entering the atmosphere by not commuting (Global Workplace Analytics).

Remote Work and Telecommuting Predictions

As we see more and more people and businesses warming up to working from home, a slew of new opportunities and challenges will definitely arise. How do businesses cope with a more mobile workforce instead of being in a single, wired location? And how do you keep your workers on their toes if they’re miles away?

• 81% of respondents think their employer will support remote work after COVID-19 (Owl Labs, 2020).
• 78% of CEOs agree that remote collaboration is here to stay for the long-term (PwC, 2020).
• With internet infrastructure steadily improving, more and more workers will find it easier to work from anywhere and still get the same, if not better, productivity. Cisco Systems predicts that video will occupy 82% of all internet content by 2022, which apart from the movies and videos available online, is a staple collaboration medium for remote working groups (Cisco, 2020).
• With more and more people electing to stay away from the office, the need for cloud computing continues to gain strength. Projections estimate that cloud servers will be utilized by 80% of all businesses by 2025. Remote work will undoubtedly require cloud services to ensure project data is both accessible and secure (Hosting Tribunal, 2020).
• By 2022, a projected 25,968 coworking spaces will become available worldwide. While co-working spaces are underutilized at present, they are seen to offer an alternative to working from home and will be especially useful for travel-heavy workers in need of a comfortable workspace and reliable internet connection (Coworking Resources, 2020).
• As loneliness is one of the top issues of working remotely, employers are realizing the virtue of implementing a hybrid work environment, with remote workers given the option to report to the office at regular intervals (Frontiers in Psychology, 2019).
• Related to the above, companies that sponsor work from home will now also look for means to engage remote workers to take part in team and group activities. Utilizing so-called virtual water coolers, these activities encourage remote employees to participate in team activities designed to promote interaction and instill a sense of connection and belongingness (Remote.Co).
• With the growth of remote work, a certain group of workers has found the freedom to become digital nomads. These new breed of online workers are location independent and travel extensively while performing their remote work duties. This new class of workers gives rise to catered nomad services across the globe, offering travel and living accommodations in exotic locations with the guarantee of a stable internet connection and a conducive workspace wherever they go (Investopedia, 2020).

Transitioning to Remote Work is Easy

With more and more reasons popping up in favor of implementing remote work, businesses must start taking a long, hard look at their existing infrastructures. The allure of the corner office is slowly fading in favor of more time spent at home. Even the pandemic-level events have shown that if you want things to be business as usual, then you may want to leave the office and go home instead. You can check our ultimate remote team management guide to help you fast-track the transition.

References:

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20. Wessels, C., Schippers, M. C., Stegmann, S., Bakker, A. B., Van Baalen, P. J., & Proper, K. I. (2019). Fostering flexibility in the New World of work: A model of time-spatial job crafting. Frontiers in Psychology, 10.
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By Astrid Eira

Astrid Eira is a resident B2B expert of FinancesOnline, focusing on the SaaS niche. She specializes in accounting and human resource management software, writing honest and straightforward reviews of some of the most popular systems around. Being a small business owner herself, Astrid uses her expertise to help educate business owners and entrepreneurs on how new technology can help them run their operations. She's an avid fan of the outdoors, where you'll find her when she's not crunching numbers or testing out new software.