Two-Thirds of Remote Workers Want to Continue to Work Remotely

A Gallup poll with data from September indicate that two-thirds of remote workers want to keep working remotely. An article from 2016 estimated the number of knowledge workers in the US to be 30MM people and adding roughly 1MM per year. Since most remote jobs are knowledge work jobs, we can estimate 20MM people in the US want to work remotely permanently.

See also:

• The number of remote native companies are likely to increase as a result
• This will increase the back office administrative burden needed to support remote workers

Links to this note

• Organizational Support of Remote Work Correlates With Reported Productivity

  In a recent study looking at the impact of remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic found that perception of organizational support for remote work correlates with higher reported productivity and gains in productive working time. This is in contrast to those that perceive low support for remote work as having a negative impact on productive working time and indicating greater depression symptoms.

• 20% of US Workers Are Expected to Work from Home Permanently

  While just 5% of the workforce in the US worked from home prior to the pandemic, 20% are expected to work from home permanently.

• 36% of Remote Workers Are Waiting to Hear from Employers If They Must Return to the Office

  In a survey conducted by LinkedIn in July 2021, they found that 36% of people currently working remotely are still waiting to hear from their employers about whether or not they will be required to return to the office.

• Employees Picking Their Work from Home Days Leads to Inequality

  Many companies are moving to a hybrid remote setup when it’s safe for employees to return to offices. Some will allow employees to choose when they work from home and when they work from the office. However, this leads to an in-group (people in the office) and an out-group (people working from home more often).

• 38 Percent of Remote Workers Work from Their Beds

  A survey found that 38% of remote workers regularly work from their beds. 45% regularly work from the couch.

• 45% of Jobs Can Be Done Remotely

  Merging data from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET), National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) round 16, and American Time Use Survey (ATUS) shows that an estimated 45% of jobs (~67MM based on number of employed citizens) in the US can be done remotely. However, prior to the pandemic only 10% of workers who could work remotely actually did (the takeup rate).

• § What Is the Market Value of Working Remote?

  We can come up with a valuation of remote work by looking at a few signals: what you would forgo, what do you gain, what others gain, and what others lose.

• Topeka Kansas Estimates a 10x Return on Relocating Remote Workers to Their City

  The city of Topeka, Kansas estimates 10x in annual tax revenue for every $5k they spend in incentives to relocate high paying remote workers to their city. Small cities can build programs that attract individual remote workers that can have an immediate impact on taxes and boost the local economy.

• Half of Millennials and Gen Z Would Consider Quitting If Employers Don’t Allow Remote Work

  A poll done by Morning Consult on behalf of Bloomberg News in May 2021 showed that 39% of U.S. adults would consider quitting if they weren’t able to work from home. Millenials and GenZ respondents showed 49%.

• Reflections on Writing 1000 Notes

  I’ve now written 1,000 notes since May 25, 2020 in my Zettelkasten. You can see my reflections on writing 500 notes and here are my thoughts since then.

• Remote Workers Are Increasingly Choosing Not to Work from the Office

  A Pew Research Center Survey found that 61% of remote workers who have a company office say it’s their choice not to work from there. This is significant because the prior reason for working remotely was 38% of people said it was because their workplace was closed.

• Remote Work Resulted in a 30% Increase in Hours Worked and 20% Decrease in Productivity

  A study of 10,000 workers at an Asian IT company found that when comparing before the pandamic and during (the work from home period), the number of hours worked increased by 30% (including 18% increase outside of normal working hours, but the average output remained the same. This led the researchers to conclude that the overall productivity of remote work declined by 20%.

• The Great Resignation

  More people in the US have quit their job in 2021 then ever before (since it started being tracked). COVID-19 made people re-evaluate whether or not their jobs were worth it—many have decided to change jobs are quit altogether, especially in retail and food services.

• Nearly Half of Employees Are Likely to Move to Work Remotely

  A survey by Microsoft found that 41% of employees are considering leaving their current job and 46% say they are likely to move to work remotely. This would result in a major change in the percentage of remote workers at companies compared to before the pandemic. A survey by McKinsey about remote work found that 20-25% of workforces in advanced economies could work from home after the pandemic.

• An Old Iphone Is the Best Webcam

  As remote work ramps up, many people are looking for a higher quality webcam to use with video conferencing software. It turns out, the best webcam might just be an old iPhone. Apps like Camo turn an old iPhone into an HD webcam using the rear facing sensors which are already optimized for capturing faces well and having good color balance.

• Not Having to Commute for Five Hours Is Equivalent to a 10 Percent Raise

  In 2019, Americans spent an average of 55.2 minutes per day commuting. During the COVID-19 pandemic, remote workers have completely eliminated morning commutes which is like a 10% raise (or higher if you are like 10% of Americans that commute two hours per day). The monetary value of saved commuting time would be equivalent to the largest tax cuts for the middle class ever.