Remote Work Statistics [2022]: Facts, Trends, And Projections

66% of U.S. employees work remotely, at least part-time.

With up to 92% of employees working at least one day per week remotely, the average U.S. worker works 5.8 remote workdays per month.

Currently, 68% of Americans would prefer to be fully remote.

That means a considerable majority of the U.S. workforce wants to work remotely, and what’s more, at least 23% would take a 10% pay cut to work from home indefinitely.

At least 50% of employers believe remote work reduces absenteeism.

And the feeling is mutual among employees, as 56% say they have reduced absences, and 50% use fewer sick days. Overall, a considerable 75% say they have a better work-life balance.

16% of companies are fully remote.

This is still small compared to the 44% of companies that don’t allow remote work. However, this trend is changing over time, as 59% of workers report being more likely to choose an employer that allows remote work rather than one that doesn’t.

Pre-pandemic, only 6% of American workers were fully remote.

In fact, at least 75% of workers never worked remotely at all. This particularly explains why the booming interest in remote work now is such a new phenomenon.

From 2018 to 2021, the number of fully remote workers increased by over four times.

Instead of 6% of employees being fully remote, now 26.7% of employees are fully remote. The highest demographics of those working from home, being women and college graduates are at 35% and 38%, respectively. By contrast, only 17% of those without a college degree have worked from home during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Experts predict that there will be 36.2 million Americans working remotely by 2025.

Which is a 417% increase from pre-pandemic levels, where there were only 7 million people working remotely.

85% of managers now believe that teams of remote workers will become the new norm.

And they may not have a choice, as 59% of workers report being more likely to choose an employer that allows remote work rather than one that doesn’t. Plus, 74% of workers agree that remote work opportunities make them less likely to leave a company.

81% of workers expect their employer to continue supporting remote work.

The fact is that a majority of workers are in favor of remote work, even the ones who’d never worked remotely before the COVID-19 pandemic.

32.2% of managers agree that productivity has increased after the 2020 remote work shift.

Further, 68% of enterprises say there’s been an improvement in employee productivity since the move to remote work. Overall, a good portion of small businesses, companies, and those in positions of leadership agree that remote work has had a positive effect on productivity.

94% of employees report feeling like their work productivity is the same or higher than before they worked remotely.

In fact, research shows that when employees are able to work from home, their performance increases by at least 22%.

75% of employees believe they have a better work-life balance working remotely.

And other common benefits cited by employees include reduced stress (57%), reduced absences (56%), improved morale (54%), and fewer sick days (50%).

62% of workers feel remote work positively affects their work engagement.

Overall, 78% of remote work employees report feeling “highly engaged” in their work, while only 72% of in-office employees say the same.

21% of workers are willing to give up vacation time for flexible work options

And that’s not all, as at least 16% would give up employer-matching retirement contributions. The two of these factors combined have the potential to save employers thousands of dollars.

Turnover reduces by 50% when employees have access to a remote work option.

This can largely be attributed to the other positive factors mentioned, as well as workers feeling as though they have more adjacency, retention, and creativity in a remote work environment.

40% of remote workers say that struggling to unplug at the end of the workday is their biggest challenge.

While many remote workers argue that they have a better work-life balance, a large minority also struggle with ending their workday. Overall, the average U.S. remote employee works 5.8 remote workdays per month, which has been up by 2.4 since the start of the pandemic.

50% of remote workers feel lonely at least once per week.

In fact, 19% of work-from-home employees stated “Isolation” as their #1 problem, and 70% felt left out of their workplace.

6% of remote workers would rather work fully on-site.

While this seems like a very small percentage, it’s worth noting that 45% would prefer a hybrid arrangement that involved time spent in the office and working remotely.

37% of remote workers in the United States are Asian.

Despite only accounting for 5.4% of the U.S. population, Asians make up the largest percentage of remote workers. This is followed by White workers (29.9%), Black workers (19.7%), and Hispanic/Latino workers (16.2%).

Since 2020, the number of women working remotely has increased by 23%.

That’s compared to a 16% increase for men. In general, women seem to prefer remote work more than men, with 68% agreeing they’d prefer remote work post-pandemic, as opposed to 57% of men. Plus, 80% of women consider remote work a top job benefit, compared with 69% of men.

IT is the most common industry to adopt remote work.

This makes sense, as most IT work can be completed easily in a remote work environment. Other top industries for remote workers include Accounting & Finance, Customer Service, Healthcare, Marketing, Education, and Sales.