We have reviewed the leading surveys in 2020, 2021 and 2022 on remote working. 

This list answers your most burning questions on remote working and remote hiring with the data we have found.

We have answered these questions:

1. How many people are working remotely?
2. What are the most important reasons people want to work remotely?
3. Are remote workers more focussed?
4. Do remote workers work more?
5. Do remote workers have a better work/life balance?
6. Does remote work impact your career?
7. Is remote contributing to a sustainable world of work?
8. Does remote working save money?
9. What are the different types of remote working models?
10. What are the demographics of remote workers?
11. What are the most common challenges for remote workers?
12. Do remote workers earn more?
13. Does remote work help to attract and retain talent?
14. How important is the right remote tooling?

1. How many people are working remotely?

During the pandemic, 95% of U.S. office workers worked from their homes for three or more days a week (1). Almost 70% of full-time workers are entirely working from home(3).

And remote workers are not planning to return to the office soon.

82% of them like to keep working remotely at least once per week after the pandemic is over (1).

The state of remote work reported even higher figures, 97.6% of the workforce said they would like to work remotely for the rest of their life, at least some of the time (2).

After Covid-19, 80% of people expect to work from home at least three times a week (3).

2. What are the most important reasons people want to work remotely?

Remote work is praised for several reasons.

The top 5 most important benefits reported by remote workers are:

1. Flexible schedule (32%)
2. Work from anywhere (25%)
3. No commuting/travelling (22%)
4. Spend time with family (11%)
5. Work from home (8%)

3. Are remote workers more focussed?

Remote workers estimated that they gained around 35 working minutes a day due to fewer interruptions at their home as opposed to the office (1). That means remote workers gained about an additional 1.5 day per month in productivity. 

On the other hand, 62% of remote workers said that interruptions were still one of their top challenges working from home during Covid-19 (3), so being and staying focussed is still an important point of attention.

For 75% of people fewer distractions at home than in the office was an important reason to keep working from home (5).

4. Do remote workers work more?

On average, remote employees worked an extra 26 hours each month during COVID, nearly an extra day every week (3).

5. Do remote workers have a better work/life balance?

Remote workers generally indicate to have improved their work/life balance since they are working remotely.

The work related happiness score for remote employees is 75 out of 100, compared to 71 for in-office employees. Remote employees also are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs than office-based workers (57% vs 50%) (7).

77% of people agree that after COVID-19, being able to work from home would make them happier (3).

Remote workers report (1):

• Better work/life balance (77%)
• Improvement to their well-being, due to more sleep, less stress, etc. (69%)
• Eating healthier (54%)
• Exercising more often (48%)

70% of respondents said a permanent remote job would have a considerable improvement or positive impact on their mental health (5).

6. Does remote work impact your career?

57% of workers are not concerned that working remotely would impact their career progression. 43% of workers did fear that working remotely would impact their career progression (3).

7. Is remote contributing to a sustainable world of work?

Employees spend the equivalent of 28 days a year commuting (1), that’s a whole month in the year spent on just travelling to work.

Working remotely saves 40 minutes daily on commute (3).

Telecommuting reduces greenhouse gas emissions by an amount of about 600.000 cars (1).

8. Does remote working save money?

A typical employer can save $11.000 a year for each worker that works remotely 2 to 3 days a week (1).

By staying home half the time, a typical employee can save anywhere from $640 to $6,400 a year by reducing their spending on things like transportation, parking, gas, work clothes, food, and serendipity spending on things like impulsive lunchtime shopping, etc. (1).

It is estimated that people who work from home save $4,000 a year on average (5).