Corporate Shifts and Surprising Statistics for Remote Work

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Those who have hoped for remote working to become a norm may have something positive to salvage from this difficult year. COVID-19 survival has forced organizations that would have never experimented with a remote workforce to allow their employees to work from home. Attend enough Zoom meetings and you are likely to hear coworkers remark that they are getting so much more work done at home than they would have at the office, or sharing their desire to never even return to the office again.

The desire to work from the comfort of home is not a new phenomenon. However, the technology that enables it to be a viable option is relatively new. Advanced project management software and high-tech collaborative virtual office tools can achieve the same results while eliminating the need for many workers to physically be in an office. The overhead savings of a remote workforce alone are an obvious cost reduction that should be appealing to employers, but are there other potential benefits and savings?

Surprising statistics.

Many may be surprised to learn that a 2019 report by Owl Labs found that 78 percent of respondents would take a pay cut to work remotely. Perhaps even more surprising are the amounts of cuts which respondents would be willing to take. Owl Labs reported that 34 percent would be willing to take a cut of up to 5 percent, 24 percent would be willing to take a cut of up to 10 percent, and 20 percent would be willing to take a pay cut of more than 10 percent.

Should those numbers be surprising though? The reasons cited in the report for what can potentially be large pay cuts are a better work-life balance, increased productivity, less stress, and avoiding a commute. How much would not having the average 4.35 hour work commute per week be worth to you; or greatly reducing the average three months of your entire life spent getting ready for work? How much did the closet full of work clothes that you never wear anywhere else cost? Is reducing or even eliminating the average 2.8 hours per week of office drama worth something to you? Do you think that you might have spent $10,000+ less on that new car if people at work were unlikely to ever know what you drive? These questions can go on and on.

The elephant in the room.

There will always be an elephant in the room no matter how much attitudes toward remote working change – it is primarily for white-collar jobs. One thing that COVID-19 has taught us: many of the newly minted essential workers are working blue-collar jobs on Main Street, and not in offices on Madison Avenue. We have seen that white-collar workers are willing to take pay cuts to work remotely. That would free up a lot of money to increase the compensation of blue-collar workers who should be paid more than they are being paid now anyway.

The usual opposition.

If working from home sounds great to you then you are not alone. However, remote working has its opponents. There has always been legitimate concern over productivity, but the Harvard Business Review examined studies, finding that productivity was higher in remote workers and concluded that there is no reason to expect lower productivity with the implementation of common sense policies.

A more nebulous concern has been creativity and innovation. Tech has typically been the doomsayer in regards to this concern and frequently cites the water cooler myth. This concern tends to hold less water (no pun intended) outside of tech-world since it feels like some of the most creative and innovative recent tech accomplishments are methods of invading privacy and selling personal data. Tech seems to be changing its tune though. Facebook, Twitter, and Walmart’s impressive tech division are all looking towards the future and thousands of COVID-19 remote workers will be allowed to permanently work remotely after the pandemic ends.

Tech’s change in attitude is a good sign for people with disabilities and rural residents fortunate enough to have proper Internet access who find it difficult to find remote work. Owl Labs reports that remote work is not easy to break into and is only offered to 7 percent of employees who have been at organizations for less than five years. It also is a good sign for people already fully integrated into an organization as tech leaders tend to be emulated by leaders in other industries.

The bottom line.

The bottom line may be that remote working is good for everyone’s bottom line. Compensation reductions relative to the gains acquired by working from home for workers who are predominantly white-collar can be used to increase compensation for workers whose duties and skill sets necessitate an onsite presence; increased integration can be achieved for people with disabilities and rural residents; organizations can reduce various costs and maintain a more agile workforce, and we may have a happier and healthier workforce overall.