Remote work was introduced for a majority of businesses as a response to stay-at-home orders due to COVID-19 and a staggering 70% of businesses went fully remote almost immediately. As we enter 2022, remote work is now slowly becoming a new norm but only 16% of businesses globally are full time remote while a surprising 44% of businesses will not entertain the idea.
While most businesses would prefer on-site working, employees are saying different things. After experiencing either fully remote or hybrid work from home models, 49% of workers would prefer to stay at remote, 45% preferring a hybrid arrangement while only a mere 6% were ready to return to the office full time.
Introducing full-time or hybrid work models can be tricky if they are not done right. It is important for businesses to make sure employees have the proper equipment, training, security, communication, and collaboration tools so that work does not suffer, and daily work related frustrations are kept at a minimum. Before implementing a new model, businesses should have procedures in place that should be communicated for all remote workers to help manage workloads and expectations.
Surprising 2022 Remote Work Statistics
From a survey conducted by Owl Labs
- 77% of remote workers feel more productive when working from home
- 85% of managers believe having remote teams will become the new norm
- 74% of workers say remote work would make them less likely to leave
- 24% of employees are happier with remote or hybrid work arrangements
- 23% of workers would take a pay cut for work from home options
- 22% of Americans will be working remotely by 2025
Hybrid Working: The Best of Both Worlds
Flexibility is incredibly important to employees since the impacts of the pandemic, and the hybrid work model is an arrangement that can give employees just that. Currently, around 63% of high-growth businesses use the hybrid method, which is proving popular between both management and employee alike. Hybrid models can be implemented in several ways. An example of the hybrid workforce is it will consist of employees who work remotely full-time and those who work in the office full-time. Another example is the employees who work at home for two-three days a week and work on location the remaining workdays.
According to a survey done by zippia.com, 29% of executives believe employees should be in the office at least three days a week to maintain company culture. 21% believe five days a week, 18% believe four, 15% believe two, 5% believe one, 6% believe in 1-3 days per month and 5% believe employees do not even need to be in the office.
This is why hybrid work arrangements are the most popular, because they can be tailored fit to organizations to help maintain its work culture and workload efficiently while giving employees the flexibility they crave in a career.
With Remote Work, Everyone Wins
Now, what employee would not love to be remote full time and while it seems most would prefer this out of sheer convenience, there are multiple benefits to implementing full time or hybrid remote work and these benefits extend to the business overall as well. Employees are the backbone of any business; talented and happy employees can only help businesses thrive and move forward.
Employee Work-Life Balance
Remote workers find they are more productive and less stressed for a variety of reasons. They no longer have to commute, have less exposure to illness, experience fewer workplace distractions, have the option to create a comfortable and ergonomic workspace, and have more time for family and themselves resulting in a better work-life balance and higher quality of life. Unsurprisingly, 84% of employees say the main benefit of remote work is not commuting with the average commute time being 40 minutes. With less stress and more time to focus on work, when employees have better work-life balance, employers are less likely to experience high turnover rates.
Overall Improved Inclusivity
Remote work gives business the chance to embrace diversity and inclusion. This is because with remote work they have the ability to hire people from different socioeconomic, geographic and cultural backgrounds. As a snowball effect, this gives business a range of different perspectives helping achieve overall business growth. With no limits on locations, business owners can have a wide selection of candidates when hiring remote workers, providing a greater opportunity to find candidates with specialized skills and top-talent.
Creating A Positive Environmental Impact
Whether your organization actively has a hand in combating environmental change or not, remote work can help any business support sustainability initiatives such as economic growth, reduced inequalities, a reduced carbon footprint, sustainable cities, climate change and responsible consumption. Environmental impacts are also important across multiple generations with 72% of workers saying they were concerned about environmental ethics and 65% of workers saying they would prefer to work for a business with strong environmental policies.
Cost Effective
Going to work and running a business are both expensive but with remote work both employee and employer can experience less cost all around. Employees can save around $500 a month by being able to cut out travel costs, parking, lunch, coffee, snacks, clothes for work and reduce childcare costs by working from home. Businesses can save money by lowering overhead costs, cutting down on utilities, provisions, equipment, daily IT maintenance and furniture.
An Important Take Away
Whether or not your business has embraced remote working or not, it is steadily becoming a popular trend that keeps both businesses moving forward and employees happy regardless of economic uncertainty. It is also becoming a deciding factor with potential candidates and not embracing remote work could lead to losing out on talented staff. When deciding whether to implement a full-time or hybrid work model, it is important to remember what your work culture, employees, customers, and workload need to stay running effectively regardless of location of staff.