46+ Remote Working Statistics in 2021

02/11/2021

by David Morelo,

Staying up to date with the latest remote working statistics is essential for any business in 2021.

Introduction

2020 surprised us with a global pandemic which meant that more people than ever before are having to embrace remote working. Organizations are finding ways to offer remote working options to their employees, and employees are learning a new way of life.

I’ve been lucky to work remotely for a while now; prior to that, I was stuck in a 9-5 rut, in an office environment. Whilst that may suit some people, it didn’t work for me. I took the bull by the horns and created an environment that made me more effective, and happier.

Many people are now discovering the benefits of working remotely, all around the world. Workers are able to see more of their families, live wherever they want, and offer companies a more diverse range of employees. In fact, self-employment is on the rise due to the Coronavirus outbreak, meaning more people are working from home, figuring out ways to find new clients to sustain their new lifestyle.

Understandably, there may be questions or scepticism around the working from home concept. Managers may wonder what their employees are up to, and employees may struggle to understand how they are going to communicate with their colleagues.

I’m going to highlight some interesting and important statistics for remote working in 2021. These should give you a good idea as to how remote working works, the benefits it offers, and why so many people are taking advantage of remote working opportunities.

1. Remote Working Job Types

30% of people say they work for a company that is fully remote (Buffer)
55% of VPs work on at least a part-time remote basis (Owl Labs)
18% of executives report working remotely more than they do on-site (Owl Labs)
32% of Graduates said they don’t trust themselves to get started or stay focused when working from home (Poly)

2. Remote Working Growth

Since 2010, the amount of people working remotely at least once per week has grown by 400% (GetApp)
Growth in remote work has increased by 44% in the last 5 years (FlexJobs)
4.7 million (or 3.4% of the population) U.S. workers are remote working (FlexJobs)
99% of people would happily choose to work remotely at least part-time for the remainder of their careers (Buffer)
More than 50% of full-time office employees say they want to work remotely (Owl Labs)
Between 2012 to 2016, flexi-time has risen by 12.35% (hSo)
As a result of social distancing, 49.2% of adults in employment were working from home in April 2020 (hSo)

3. Remote Working Productivity

23% of remote workers report working longer hours compared to what they would do on-site (CoSo Cloud)
43% of remote workers take three weeks or less paid vacation time each year (Buffer)
77% of remote employees say that they are more productive when they work from home (CoSo Cloud)
76% of people working remotely would rather avoid their office when they need to concentrate on a project (Atlassian)
84% of remote workers prefer to work from home, as opposed to working anywhere else (Buffer)
For remote workers, email proves to be the most popular form of communication, followed by instant messaging, then video chat (CoSo Cloud)

4. Remote Working Earnings

74% of remote workers earn less than $100,000 per year (Owl Labs)
75% of remote employees say their companies won’t compensate them for their internet usage if they work remotely (Buffer)
Businesses save on average $11,000 per year for each half-time remote worker (Global Workplace Analytics)
Less than 34% of workers would take a pay cut of 5% in exchange for working remotely full-time (Owl Labs)
24% of people would take a pay cut of 10% to work from home (Owl Labs)
69% of Millennials say they would trade other benefits in return for flexible work options (IWG)
30% of remote workers have saved more than $5,000 per year without on-site expenses and travel costs (CoSo Cloud)
The average annual income for remote workers is $4,000 higher than that of office workers (FlexJobs)

5. Employer Benefits

75% of remote workers say they work from home because there are fewer distractions (Small Biz Genius)
85% of businesses say that implementing flexible working options have made their company more productive (Regus)
Employee turnover in companies with remote working opportunities is 25% lower than those that don’t offer (Small Biz Genius)
Employees who work remotely at least one day each month are 24% more likely to be happy and productive (Small Biz Genius)
77% of employees say remote working helps their company lower operating costs (Staples)
Xerox reduced their carbon emissions by almost 41,000 metric tons by allowing remote workers to avoid commuting (Gallup)
83% of workers say that remote working opportunities would make them feel happier about their job (Owl Labs)

6. Remote Working Opportunities

78% of employers said “flexible schedules and telecommuting” was their most effective non-monetary way of increasing employee retention (Crains New York)
82% of U.S. businesses use flexible work locations in order to improve work-life balance (Regus)
83% of workers say the ability to work from home at least some of the time would act as the decider between two job offers (IWG)
32% of people say that having a choice of work locations matters more to them than being offered a prestigious role (IWG)
54% of office workers would leave their job if they could move to one with more flexibility (Gallup)

7. Worldwide Stats

A 2019 survey showed 61% of global companies allowed their staff some kind of remote working opportunities (Merchant Savvy)
Only 32% of Japanese companies have flexible working policies (IWG)
In terms of sometimes working from home, Sweden has the largest quantity in Europe, with around 28% of their population (Eurostat)
68% of businesses in the U.K. have a flexible working policy (IWG)
In 2016, 20% of the American workforce were remote working (Gallup)

8. Demographics

51% of 45 to 60 year olds said they regularly take advantage of working anywhere in the world (Poly)
68% of 16 to 29 year olds think the biggest advantage of remote working is the work-life balance (Poly)
37% of people report a 40%+ increase in productivity when remote working (IWG)
In the U.K., 15.4 million work days are lost due to workplace stress and anxiety (UK Health & Safety Executive)
48% of people decide to work remotely due to childcare responsibilities (Owl Labs)