In a lot of Asian cities, like think of Tokyo or Shanghai, people don’t—it’s so expensive, they live in small apartments. And it’s not so appealing, particularly for a couple, to work from home. I gave a session, and it was a fascinating discussion about board meetings. And folks saying, “Look, you really want remote.” Board meetings, they’re four times a year or six times a year. But you certainly want enough, a regular cadence of in-person meetings, particularly the first time you join, because you really get that sense of connection and building trust, as you say. In terms of meetings, I think one-on-one meetings—like, Michael, if you and I had been in the office yesterday and we’re on Zoom or Teams today, it probably doesn’t matter that much.

Ultimately, the answer may determine its popularity, especially given the long period of waning labor productivity that preceded the pandemic. So far, there is scant clarity—and widespread contradiction—about the productivity impact. Some 41 percent of employees who responded to a McKinsey consumer survey in May said they were more productive working remotely than in the office. 65% of remote workers say that they are more productive working from home than they would be working in an office. Less stress from lack of commute, familiar space, and lack of distractions all contribute to increased productivity while working remotely [1].

Access to remote work

Building inspectors must go to a building or construction site. Many jobs declared essential by governments during the pandemic—nursing, building maintenance, and garbage collection, for example—fall into this category of jobs with low remote work potential. Remote work has been a preferable choice by many
when offered by their companies prior to COVID-19. When it was an option versus a necessity, many remote
workers reported feeling happier, more productive and
more trusted by their managers.

global remote work statistics 2020

This statistic is based on a study of 1,000 hiring managers. 73% of departments will have remote workers, so most communication will likely be online via team messaging and video conferences to keep teams collaborating and informed. The companies surveyed revealed that they want to move at least 5% https://remotemode.net/ of their workforce to permanently remote positions after this year. This demonstrates that some businesses are prepared to allow employees to work more flexibly in the future. There are always going to be challenged with remote work, but for the most part, employees enjoy a range of benefits.

50% of Employers Have Positions That Can Be Performed Remote

Some statistics might sometimes appear contradictory; however, there is a lot of evidence that supports the notion that remote workers are more productive on average. Despite this, 59% of remote workers are still failing to take enough time off and 42% are not planning to take any time off. So interestingly enough, hybrid work-from-home workers work about the same hours, if not slightly remote work statistics more, per week. But on the Wednesdays and Fridays they’re at home, or Mondays and Fridays, these are great days to go to the dentist, have a round of golf. I think it can work really well, and lots of data shows it can, but it has to be well managed. So if you can do that—I had a call earlier today, actually, with Steve Davis, who’s talking about deep-sea oil exploration.

  • The same applies to companies that have adopted fully remote arrangements, like Atlassian.
  • One concern some employers and labor market observers have with increased remote work is that it may lead to lower productivity since remote workers are not as easily supervised.
  • Over a third would take a pay cut in exchange for the option.
  • What’s more, 97% have cancelled work-related travel, leaving meetings to be conducted virtually.

According to Tracking Happiness which conducted a survey of 12,455 respondents, fully remote increases employees’ happiness by 20%. This survey showed that the average work happiness of people who worked on-site 100% of their time is 5.90 on a scale of 1-10, compared to 7.04 for remote workers. Without astounding developments in technology in the past decade, people wouldn’t be able to work remotely the way they do today. Given the year that 2020 has been, this would have had an even more detrimental impact on many businesses. Now, at the touch of a button, you can connect with your team from a home office with cloud-based calling software like RingCentral.