Thirty-five percent of workers in jobs that can be done remotely aren’t swayed by free coffee or Ping–Pong tables. They’re working from home entirely.
That’s according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center, which polled nearly 6,000 American adults in February. That one-third may seem like a lot, but it’s actually trending downwards. In January 2022, 43% of remote-capable workers worked fully from home, compared with the 55% who did so in October 2020. But it’s still way higher than the 7% of workers who were fully remote pre-pandemic, the research firm found.
The majority—41%—of remote-capable workers strike a balance somewhere in the middle, with a hybrid plan. That’s a 6% increase from January 2022. It’s more evidence that hybrid is becoming the dominant workplace model.
And for good reason: A hybrid work model truly seems to offer the best of both worlds, providing workers with the advantages of both remote and in-person work. Most workers told Pew that remote work helps them balance their work and personal lives, and that it helps them get through work and meet deadlines better (parents with children under 18 agree with that statement more than those without). That flies in the face of many leaders’ belief that workers are most productive in the office.
On the flip side, workers felt that not being in the office limited their opportunities for mentoring and connecting with colleagues. More than half (53%) said working from home hurt their chances for the latter.
That can be especially impactful among newer workforce entrants, like Gen Z, for whom finding reliable mentors and opportunities for networking and learning are integral to building a career.
“People want to grow quickly, [and] mentorship—being able to connect with the manager or director on a more personal level—is extremely important,” Oliver Pour, a 2022 college graduate, told Coins2Day’ s Chloe Berger last summer. Employers that don’t meet Gen Z’s expectations for personalized support and growth “are going to lose out on great talent,” he added.
Those workers are likely picking up on proximity bias, which can have real consequences. Bosses, studies show, are much likelier to prefer and give more opportunities to those whom they can see.
Nonetheless, research has found that widespread adoption of remote work has created more opportunities for career advancement, especially among workers from underrepresented groups.
Even for workers at companies who have embraced hybrid arrangements, too much is never enough. While most hybrid workers are required to go into the office at least a few days per quarter, they’re hesitant to go in any more than they have to. Three in five of them told Pew they work from home three or more days in a typical week—and most say they’d like to stay home more often than they currently do.
And luckily, as flexible work has become a nonnegotiable feature of most white-collar jobs, most businesses have found a stalemate. Over 70% of workers told Pew their manager or supervisor trusts them completely to get their work done on days they’re logging in from home—which should hopefully encourage bosses who insist on spying to loosen up a little.