This skepticism is understandable. As a manager, you may wonder what your employee does when you can’t track him down in person. As a job candidate applying for a remote position, you may worry about challenges like communicating with your team or gaining valuable visibility.
While it’s good to address remote work concerns as a boss or prospective employee, it’s also important to recognize that remote work won’t go away any time soon.
Belo Given figures will give you an idea of how the work style is growing, why employees are taking advantage of it, the opportunities it can provide to management, and even some challenges related to it.
Remote work statistics to know in 2020
Remote workforce size
- About 62% of employees ages 22-65 say they work remotely, at least occasionally, (Owl Labs)
- 44% of employees say that part of their team is remote full time. (Buffer)
- While 30% of people report working remotely full time, 18% work remotely one to three times a week. (Owl Labs)
Remote worker job types
- 18% of executives work remotely more than on-site. (Owl Labs)
- 35% of remote workers are individual contributors. (Owl Labs)
- 30% of people report that they work for a company that is totally remote. (Buffer)
- 46% of C-suite members work remotely at least part-time. (Owl Labs)
- 55% of vice presidents work remotely at least part-time. (Owl Labs)
- New hires may work remotely less often at your company. Approximately 75% more workers on site have worked their jobs for less than a year (Owl Labs)
Remote job growth
- 42% of employees with a remote work option plan to work remotely more frequently in the next five years. (Owl Labs)
- Between 2017 and 2018, teleworking increased by 22% (FlexJobs)
- If they could, 99% of people would choose to work remotely, at least part-time, for the rest of their careers. (Buffer)
- More than half of full-time office workers want to work remotely. (Owl Labs)
- 95% of people would encourage their friends or family to work remotely. (Buffer)
Job recruitment and retention
- 83% of workers, remote or on-site, say that a remote job opportunity would make them feel happier in their work. (Owl Labs)
- 40% of people say flexible hours would be the best advantage of working remotely. (Buffer)
- 74% of employees say a remote work option would make them less likely to leave their company. (Owl Labs)
Remote employee productivity and behavior
- 77% of remote employees say they are most productive when they work from home. (CoSo Cloud)
- 76% prefer to avoid their office altogether when they need to focus on a project. (Atlassian)
- 23% of remote workers say they work longer hours than they would on-site. (CoSo Cloud)
- 53% of remote workers say they are less likely to take time off than they would if they worked at your business location. (CoSo Cloud)
- 43% of remote employees take three weeks or less of paid vacation per year. (Buffer)
- Those with highly complex jobs that require little interaction with stakeholders are more productive when they are away than in an office. (Jumper)
- Although remote working allows employees to work anywhere, 84% of remote employees prefer to work from home. (Buffer)
Earnings and benefits for remote work
- 74% of remote employees earn less than $ 100,000 annually. (Owl Labs)
- Despite the advantage of remote work, less than 34% would receive a 5% pay cut for remote full-time work, while only 24% would receive a 10% pay cut for the same option. (Owl Labs)
- 30% of remote employees say they save more than $ 5,000 a year without on-site work expenses and business trips. (CoSo Cloud)
- 71% of companies also do not compensate for remote employee coworking spaces. (Buffer)
- Businesses would save an average of $ 11,000 a year for part-time telecommuting. (Global workplace analysis)
Remote work challenges
- 22% of remote employees report that disconnecting after work is their biggest challenge. (Buffer)
- 19% of remote employees report loneliness as their biggest challenge. (Buffer)
- Despite receiving sensitive business data at their remote location on a regular basis, less than half of remote employees say they receive adequate Internet security training. (Get app)
Navigating Remote Opportunities
Whether you’re considering your first remote role or hiring remote team members, it’s important to keep the statistics above in mind as the world of work continues to evolve and embrace flexibility.
For more information on how to be a successful remote employee, check out this blog post. For those interested in gaining visibility from home, we also have an excellent list of tips from some of our own remote employees. Get to know about white label digital marketing via reading online.