65 Work From Home Statistics


The development of digital technology has made it possible for business professionals to work from anywhere in the world.  All a work from home worker needs to have is a good Wi-Fi connection, productivity applications, time tracking tools, and a strong skill set. 

Working from home is not only an excellent way for workers to enjoy flexibility, but it also turns out to be beneficial to organizations throughout the world. Here are a few benefits of providing work from home for employers:

Lower Turnover Rate – If employees are given the opportunity to work from home, job satisfaction tends to increase, which further leads to lower turnover rates. This not only gives an organization a pool of talent but also leads to employers being more loyal and productive and having in-depth knowledge about the business. Additionally, by providing work from home, employers can save a lot on onboarding as well as hiring costs.

Reduced Overhead Costs – When a company lets its employees work from home, then they do not have to worry about overhead expenditures that may include power bills, chairs, desks, office supplies, and snacks. However, in some cases, employers may ask remote workers to use the company’s personal phone lines or computers in order to get the work done from home. 

Higher Productivity and Morale – It is mostly observed that remote workers who enjoy more freedom and flexibility are likely to be happier and productive as compared to counterparts who work in an office environment. Also, better productivity and increased morale can turn out to be beneficial for an organisation’s bottom-line earnings.

65 Work from Home Statistics

In order to show what is the impact of working from home on the way we work, here is a list of 65 work from home statistics. These statistics contain everything, including the way businesses are benefiting from work from home policy and how employees feel about work from home.

Work from Home Demographics

1. Departments with the greatest remote work participation include customer support/service/success (14%), facilities/operations/IT (18%), administrative (11%), and sales (13%). —  Owl Labs, 2019Opens in a new tab.

2. 20% of individual contributors are more likely to work remotely full time. —  State of Remote Work Report, 2019Opens in a new tab.

3. The industries with the most remote workers include healthcare (15%), technology/internet (10%), financial services (9%), education (8%) and manufacturing (7%). —  Owl Labs, 2019Opens in a new tab.

4. Small Companies are twice more likely to hire remote workers. — State of Remote Work, 2017Opens in a new tab.

5. Since 2005, the remote workforce has increased by 173%.  —  Global Workforce Analytics, 2018Opens in a new tab.

6. Reports demonstrate that remote work is more common in cities with high income levels. — Pragli, 2019Opens in a new tab.

7. 58 percent of baby boomers have employees who work a significant portion of their time remotely. — Upwork, 2020Opens in a new tab.

8. Non-union workers are twice as likely to have access to telecommuting. —  Global Workplace Analytics, 2018Opens in a new tab.

9. 70 percent of employees work remotely at least once a week globally. — IWG, 2018Opens in a new tab.

10. 62% of Millennials  and Gen Z work remotely at least one day per week. —  Remote.co, 2020Opens in a new tab.

11. The top three industries for remote work are Information Technology, transportation, and digital media. — Gallup, 2019Opens in a new tab.

12. 58 percent of workers would work a complete set schedule if it meant they could work full-time remotely. — Virtual Vocations, 2019Opens in a new tab.

13. 84 percent of remote workers prefer to work from home as opposed to a secondary location. — Buffer, 2019Opens in a new tab.

14. Most remote workers have unlimited vacation, yet they take two to three weeks of vacation per year. — Buffer, 2019Opens in a new tab.

15. 42% of people who are full-time remote employees say that they have been working remotely for more than five years. —  Flexjobs, 2020Opens in a new tab.

16. On average, remote 20.9% managers have more direct reports than onsite managers. —  SoapBoxHQ, 2019Opens in a new tab.

17. One in ten employees all over the globe work outside of their organisation’s main office location at least five times a week. — IWG, 2018Opens in a new tab.

18. In the United States, five million employees currently work-at-home at least 50% of the time. —  Global Workplace Analytics, 2018Opens in a new tab.

19. 66% of people who work from home in America are full-time remote employees, more frequently than the global average. Owl Labs, 2019Opens in a new tab.

Work from Home Employee Retention

20. 58% of remote employees say that the ability to work remotely has made them more satisfied with their current jobs. — IWG, 2018Opens in a new tab.

21. Millennials and Gen Z are three times more likely than older generations to prioritize future workforce planning. — Upwork, 2020Opens in a new tab.

22. 17 percent of managers who supervise a remote employee say that retention is a big concern and issue for their company, nearly six times more than onsite managers. — SoapBoxHQ, 2019Opens in a new tab.

23. Organisations saw a 50% reduction in resignations when employees were allowed to work from home. — Stanford, 2017Opens in a new tab.

24. 51% of employees would change jobs for a remoteOpens in a new tab. and more flexible schedule. —  Gallup, 2019Opens in a new tab.

24. 56% of employees have a job where at least some work could be done remotely. — Global Workplace Analytics, 2018Opens in a new tab.

26. 82% of remote workers saw reduced stress and 80% say they felt a boost in morale as a result of their remote work policy. TECLA, 2019Opens in a new tab.

27. 52% of Millennial and Gen Z managers say offering the option for their employees to work remotely is their number one priority for career planning. — Upwork, 2020Opens in a new tab.

28. 80% of employees report feeling less stressed when they work remotely as compared to when they work in the office. — Flexjobs, 2020Opens in a new tab.

29. For 77% of employees, flexible work arrangements are a major consideration when evaluating future job opportunities. — ZenefitsOpens in a new tab.

30. About 30% of remote workers whose companies had remote policies said they would consider looking for another job if their companies took away the remote work policy. — IndeedOpens in a new tab.

31. 37% of people would switch to a job that gave them the ability to work off-site at least part of the time. — GallupOpens in a new tab.

32. 54% of office workers said they would leave their job for a job that offers flexible work time. — GallupOpens in a new tab.

33. Out of the 52% of employees who wish their current employers allowed remote workOpens in a new tab., 37% have considered looking for a job that does and 14% are actively looking.  — IndeedOpens in a new tab.

34. Companies that support remote work have 25% lower employee turnover than companies that do not allow remote work. — State of Remote Work, 2017Opens in a new tab.

35. 15% remote workers say that they are more likely than on-site workers to stay in their current job for the next five years. — State Of Remote Work 2019Opens in a new tab.

Work from Home Productivity

36. 47% of employees without a current remote work policy say they feel they will be more productive if an opportunity to work remotely is given to them. — Flexjobs, 2020Opens in a new tab.

37. Remote workers are 13% more productive than their office-bound colleagues. — Stanford, 2017Opens in a new tab.

38. 50 percent of remote employees say working from home reduces their sick days and 56% said it reduced their absences. — Flexjobs, 2020Opens in a new tab.

39. Companies with a diverse workforce, including work from home employees, are 35% more likely to outperform a non-diverse workforce. — TECLA, 2019Opens in a new tab.

40. 68% of remote workers say they are not concerned that working from home will impact their career progression, while 23% say they fear it might. — Owl Labs, 2019Opens in a new tab.

41. Businesses that allowed remote work from employees saw 89% business growth. —  IWG, 2018Opens in a new tab.

42. A half-time telecommuter saves the equivalent of eleven days of work every year in time they would have otherwise spent commuting. — Global Workplace Analytics, 2018Opens in a new tab.

Work from Home Recruiting

43. Out of employees who have remote work as an option, 28% Millennial and Gen Z workers are more likely to utilize remote work than Baby Boomers. —  Upwork, 2020Opens in a new tab.

44. 85% of managers believe that teams composed of remote workers will be the norm in the future. — TECLA, 2019Opens in a new tab.

45. In August 2019, 7600 startups were hiring remote roles on AngelList live. More than 1500 of these companies are mostly or fully remote companies. — Remote Work ReportOpens in a new tab.

46. In 2019, 31% of companies younger than two years old that were posting jobs on AngelList had at least one open remote role as compared to 26% of companies older than two years. — Remote Work ReportOpens in a new tab.

47. Managers favor skills over being in the office together. Two times as many hiring managers cite employees having the right skills are more important than employees working in the same location as the rest of the team.  — Future Workforce Report, 2018 Opens in a new tab.

Work from Home Profits 

48. Employees save around $2,500 to $4,000 each year by working at home half the time. — Global Workplace Analytics, 2018Opens in a new tab.

49. 77 percent of organizations say allowing employees to work remotely may lead to lower operating costs. — Flexjobs, 2020Opens in a new tab.

50. In 2018, with a remote work policy, the average cost savings for companies was around $5 billion. — WBUR, 2018Opens in a new tab.

51. Remote workers earn more than $100,000 per year salaries, which is 2.2 times more frequently than on-site workers. — Owl Labs, 2019Opens in a new tab.

52. Employees who are allowed to work remotely save about $7,000 a year in food, transportation, and childcare costs. — TECLA, 2019Opens in a new tab.

53. Companies that allow remote work see an average increase of $2,000 in profit per remote employee. — Stanford, 2017Opens in a new tab.

The Environmental Impact of Work from Home

54. People who work from home in the United States avoid emitting 3.6 million tons of commuting-related greenhouse gasses annually. — FlexJobsOpens in a new tab.

55. Working remotely mitigates climate change annually. It reduces gas consumption by over $20 million. — Work Remote DayOpens in a new tab.

56. Remote working decreases greenhouse gas emissions by 54 million tons. — Work Remote DayOpens in a new tab.

57. Xerox’s remote workers drove 92 million fewer miles. That saved 4.6 million gallons of gas and reduced carbon dioxide emissions by almost 41,000 metric tons. — SHRMOpens in a new tab.

58. Remote working reduces oil consumption by 640 million barrels.  — Work Remote DOpens in a new tab.

59. In 2019, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) reported that telecommuting is part of a climate change solution since using electronics to telecommute saves 9 to 14 billion kilowatt-hours of energy every year. — LifewireOpens in a new tab.

Work from Home Challenges

60. 35% of remote workers are less likely to agree that their coworkers provide them with meaningful feedback. — Gallup, 2019Opens in a new tab.

61. 16% employers that work from home are less likely to agree that their manager involves them in setting goals at work. — Gallup, 2019Opens in a new tab.

62. The three biggest problems facing remote employees are experiencing loneliness (19%), unplugging after work (22%) , and communication issues (17%). — Buffer, 2019Opens in a new tab.

63. 22% of managers who supervise remote employees say they have trouble getting their teams to collaborate with each other. — SoapBoxHQ, 2019Opens in a new tab.

64. Only 23% of remote workers say that their employer covers the cost of a monthly coworking space. — Buffer, 2019Opens in a new tab.

65. Collaborating and/or communicating (21%), loneliness (21%), and distractions at home (16%) are the biggest struggles of remote workers.  — Buffer State of Remote Work, 2018Opens in a new tab.

Conclusion 

All in all, giving opportunities to employees has proved to be beneficial for employers. Also, working remotely is changing the way we work, allowing more flexibility and productivity in the work culture. 

Steve Todd

Steve Todd, founder of Open Sourced Workplace and is a recognized thought leader in workplace strategy and the future of work. With a passion for work from anywhere, Steve has successfully implemented transformative strategies that enhance productivity and employee satisfaction. Through Open Sourced Workplace, he fosters collaboration among HR, facilities management, technology, and real estate professionals, providing valuable insights and resources. As a speaker and contributor to various publications, Steve remains dedicated to staying at the forefront of workplace innovation, helping organizations thrive in today's dynamic work environment.

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