During the initial months the virus outbreak, nearly everyone headed home to keep businesses operational. Although the shift was sudden and dramatic, companies and employees rose to the challenge and did what needed to be done to get through the crisis. One of the unexpected outcomes of the situation included the move towards more people working at home permanently. In response to the situation, Global Workplace Analytics updated their 2018 survey of work-from-home employees to reflect new trends and attitudes in 2020. Below are some of the relevant statistics you need to know. Keep in mind that these numbers do not include entrepreneurs and self-employed individuals unless otherwise noted.

work-from-home

Did You Know? 
Traditionally, the terms telework and telecommuting were utilized to define the substitution of technology for business travel or commuting. In recent years, these terms have been replaced with more contemporary descriptions, including remote work, distributed work and mobile work.

Work-From-Home Statistics

  • 5 million employees currently work-at-home half-time or more. This represents 3.6% of American workers.
  • The work-from-home population has grown by 173% since 2005, 11% faster than the rest of the workforce
  • 43% of employees work from home frequently
  • 56% of employees have a job which can be performed remotely.
  • 80% of employees say they would work remotely at least part of the time, if given the opportunity
  • 88% of federal employees would like to work from home full or part-time
  • 35% of employees would switch positions for the chance to work remotely full time
  • Millennials ranked work flexibility as one of the most attractive benefits, ranking higher than tuition reimbursement of student loans.
  • Over one-third of employees would be wiling to give up 5% of their salary in exchange for the ability to work-from home. One quarter would be willing to take a 10% pay cut, and 20% of respondents would be willing to forego even more of their salary for the opportunity to have work flexibility.

Demographics of Work-from-Home Employees

The average work-from-home employee:

  • is 45 years old or older
  • earns an average salary of $58,000
  • works for a company with 100 employees or more
  • 463,000 disable employees work-from-home on a regular basis.

Fast Fact: 75% of work from home workers earn over $65,000 per year, placing them in the upper 80th percentile of all employees across the board.

Businesses Embracing Home Offices

  • Over the last 5 years, 40% more American businesses are giving their employees flexible and remote work options.
  • Larger companies in New England and the Mid-Atlantic region are more likely to offer telecommuting options to a majority of employees.
  • Full-time employees are 4x more likely than part-time workers to be offered work-at-home options
  • Non-union workers are offered work from home flexibility twice as often as union workers.

As more and more employees take advantage of – and demand – work from home opportunities, companies will be forced to investigate strategies for providing devices, setting up new password protocols, disseminating security information and security patches, and installing anti-virus software and firewalls.

Your Sarasota company may also wish to speak with Alliance IT to discuss managed services and outsourcing. As organizations shift from a centralized location to a distributed environment, as well as from dedicated hardware to personal devices, our experts can help manage the changes.