One interesting finding concerning Japanese employees is that although they feel slacker when working from home, they feel more relaxed and happy about not being monitored by their superiors or colleagues. This positive outlook is what helps tackle mental fatigue and high cognitive load in challenging work environments. Although the work culture is similar to Japan’s, South Korea resorted to teleworking due to economic pressures generated by an intense market polarization.

Work-from-home productivity stats show that being able to work remotely improves employee happiness by 20%. Consumer attitudes towards small businesses data was collected by Opinium on behalf of Forbes Advisor from a nationally representative survey of 2,000 UK adults between 3 and 7 November 2023. A survey from GoodHire found that 61% of Americans would be willing to sacrifice part of their income in exchange for the ability to work remotely. According to an international survey of major cities conducted by Swedish job site Jobbland.se, 42% of cities currently pay more for remote work than non-remote work. The most drastic difference was in San Francisco where remote roles outpaid non-remote roles by $32,000.

Current statistics on this topic

People offered full-time flexible work spent a bit more time working remotely, on average, at 3.3 days a week. Interestingly, 12 percent of respondents whose employers only offer part-time or occasional remote work statistics remote work say that even they worked from home for five days a week. This contradiction appears indicative of a tension between how much flexibility employers offer and what employees demand.

Sixty-nine percent of remote workers experience increased burnout from digital communication tools [10]. The constant stream of digital communication can lead to mental fatigue, underscoring the need for proper work boundaries and digital wellness strategies. Those who opt for a hybrid work model report the highest average salary at $80,000. This may be attributed to the flexibility and balance that hybrid work offers, enabling workers to maximize their productivity and potentially take on more responsibilities.

What Percentage of the U.S. Workforce Works From Home?

Given workers’ desire for flexibility, employers may have to explore ways to offer the flexibility employees want to compete for talent effectively. Data projections show that 25 percent of all jobs in North America will be remote by the end of 2022. This shift shows businesses are acknowledging advancements in technology and business culture, as well as addressing employee values. This trend is projected to continue into 2023 but indicates the number of remote job possibilities in the current market does not meet individual demand. Research shows that while remote work opportunities are still highly desired, 44 percent of companies worldwide don’t allow remote work.

• If you’d like to take a look at the sources directly, you can click any of the citations or check out our “sources” section at the bottom of this article.
• The opportunity to work flexibly differs by industry and role within industries and has implications for companies competing for talent.
• While remote work has largely been embraced by European and American employers, only 9% of companies in Asia provide their employees with any kind of remote work opportunities.
• The Europe/Africa/Middle East region is second, with people preferring to work remotely at least 2.3 days per week on average, while the Asia/Pacific region is dead last, wanting only 1.8 remote workdays per week on average[4].
• Given workers’ desire for flexibility, employers may have to explore ways to offer the flexibility employees want to compete for talent effectively.
• This may seem like a small difference right now, but it’s a clear indicator of the correlation between these two factors.
• According to that same analysis, Media/Communications and Software/IT Services were the two sectors with the largest virtual work opportunity growth.

That’s why they must go to the office to process paper invoices and use their seal of authorship, their Hanko stamp, on their contracts and paperwork. Japan has the lowest WFH rate (10%) among developed high-income countries (Okubo, 2020). What’s more, with proper adjustments to WFH practices, there’s a theoretical maximum of 86% for finance and insurance, 78% for management, and 75% for professional services. Yet, there’s only 8% for agriculture, 9% for hospitality, and 20% for construction.

Benefits of Working Remotely

Plus, this rate drops considerably if you factor in Internet penetration and speed. In light of the pandemic, an IT developer can work fully remote and experience no change in work practices, and a government worker may need to adopt a hybrid model. In contrast, a plumber might need to change the work style altogether (e.g., to offer consultancy or help over the phone/video call to interested DIYers). Staying up to date on new developments is critical to understanding where our work is heading. We’ve seen a lot of news about changing technologies, more transparency, and going-back-to-work trends because every new change impacts what we do day-to-day and how we interact with the people around us.

• During the pandemic, in 2020, that percentage increased to 9%, and today stands at 15%.
• Only 27% of large companies state that they are requiring workers to return to in-office work full-time.
• Most remote workers (84%) state that motivation isn’t an issue for them; however, 14% do admit that motivation is an issue.
• Although many employers will worry about their staff’s work efforts whilst working out-of-sight, many employees and companies report boosts in productivity.
• So it’s better to start learning the ropes of working remotely—the tools to use, tips to follow, and systems to employ.