Remote Work is Going To Keep Increasing, Study Says (upwork.com)

Freelancing website Upwork has published its annual Future Workforce Report, which explores hiring behaviors of over 1,000 U.S. managers. It finds: As companies struggle to fill the skills gap, they're embracing agile, remote teams to get work done. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of companies today have remote workers, yet a majority lack remote work policies.

Companies have the resources, but lack the policies to support remote work: While companies feel confident they have the resources in place to support remote work, many lack a formal policy. Sixty-four percent of hiring managers feel that their company has the resources and processes in place to support a remote workforce, yet the majority (57 percent) lack a remote work policy.
Companies with work-from-home policies have become more lenient & inclusive: As companies increasingly embrace remote work, they're evolving their work-from-home policies. Nearly half (45%) of hiring managers said their company's work-from-home policy has changed in the past five years, with 60 percent saying it has become more lenient and inclusive. This increased inclusivity is making it easier for companies to find the talent they need. Over half (52%) of hiring managers that work at companies with work-from-home policies believe hiring has become easier in the past year.
Findings indicate remote work is likely to become the new normal: Over half (55%) of hiring managers agree that remote work has become more commonplace as compared to three years ago. Five times as many hiring managers expect more of their team to work remotely in the next ten years than expect less.

Comments

Not going back.

[0100010001010011]

I've worked remote since ~2010. I still go to the office occasionally, usually one week a month for all of the stuff I can't do remotely.

I can't imagine trying to shoehorn my life back into the terrible 9-5 mold. The first thing I ask recruiters when they try to poach is if remote is possible and if not shoo them away.

Our house is paid for, I like where we live, my wife likes her job. I'm not playing the "lets drag the family across the country for breadcrumbs and hope I don't get laid off from this new position" game.

Re:Not going back.

[Xenolith0]

I'm in nearly the same boat as you. I worked from home 90% of the year and travel out of state to random client sites the rest of the time.

I've had job offers from companies, usually for more pay, but none of them let me work from home. So I end up turning them down. It's really hard to beat a 30 second commute from bed to office. Fresh, well made coffee, and a comfortably setup office to my tastes. Best of all is, when I'm done for the day, I have a 30 second commute to home.

really?

[green1]

With news story after news story about companies cancelling their work from home programs, it this really true?

Don't get me wrong, I think that remote work SHOULD increase, I see no reason to deal with a commute just to be less productive in the office than I could be at home. all while costing the company more money in real-estate and equivalent.

But as long as managers are lazy and prefer to manage by time-clock rather than by worker performance, I'm not sure we can expect to see large strides in this area.

Re:really?

[aaarrrgggh]

Most senior managers want to be able to make it happen. The biggest bottleneck is mid-level or junior managers being unable to manage [their reports if they can't see them]. Training of junior staff also becomes harder. An office where everybody but the junior staff works remotely is non-functional.

I want to redefine my role as remote, but getting around the face-to-face culture within our office is hard.

Re:really?

[Plugh]

I've been managing remote teams for a decade and a half. My direct reports are in Mexico, India, and the East and West Coasts of the USA. Frankly it's very straightforward. I talk in real-time to each direct every day, via webconf or phone. People are available in chat or pick up a quick webconf at any reasonable hour in their local timezone. Sure, as a manager I wind up having some calls at 6AM and others at 9PM, but I'm OK with that, especially since I can usually WfH as well. Not spending the time driving to and from the office, not getting bugged by office chit-chat, being able to go directly from bed to the keyboard and back without breaking stride; these are *huge* productivity improvements. Being able to take a 10-minute catnap when I'm not otherwise feeling productive (eg after lunch) is also an incredible boon; you can't take a 10 minute nap in an open-design office without looking like a slacker, even if you need a nap because you work 10 hour days. The fact that my employer let me work from home most days more than made up for my otherwise lower-than-market salary. I didn't look elsewhere and continued to work hard because I liked the job.

At least, all that was true until last year, when our executive VP decided WfH was strictly prohibited because "agile one-team!" Now I'm forced to drive to the office and sit next to people who I don't actually work with, wasting gas and time for appearances, rather than focusing on my actual work output. Meanwhile I still have direct reports in radically different timezones. Needless to say, I'm looking elsewhere for a more sane employer. Best time to look for a job, is when you already have one...

Re:really?

[omnichad]

you can't remote-work a fast-food restaurant.

Unless you're at a McDonald's drive-through speaker.

Re:remote work is a euphemism for slacker

[fish_in_the_c]

if your employer expects you to get things done, and you actually get done the things they want, what difference does anything else make.
If your employer doesn't have a good way of measuring your work product , then they have a different management issue that exists if you are in the office or not.

Re:VERY Remote work.

[green1]

That's because businesses have lobbied hard to ensure that employees are a global market, but that commodities are not. That's what trade tariffs are for, that's what IP laws that guarantee monopolies on certain ideas are for, that's what region coding and anti-circumvention laws are for, that's what intentionally non-uniform safety standards are for.

As a multi-national corporation you can feel free to make your products in whatever country you chose, have your employees in whatever other countries you chose, and pay your taxes is a completely different country of your choice.
As a consumer though you must buy many items only from sanctioned groups in specific countries.

e.g. A company can make my car in Mexico, but I can't buy a car from Mexico, that would be illegal as only vehicles sold in my own country are certified to pass our safety standards, and we don't care about the safety standards of any other country. A company can film a video in India, but if I buy a copy of it sold there it won't play on my DVD player, and it would be illegal to bypass that restriction. The list goes on, and on, and on.

Best laws money can buy.