In March of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S., the number of people working remotely increased from 16.8 million to 36 million. That number has decreased to 22 million Americans working remotely at the end of 2024. This statistic could be thought of as an indicator for remote work dying but it does not reflect the growth in the hybrid work model as a replacement or maybe a supplement to full-time remote working.
It is hard to escape the news about federal workers being required to return to their sometimes non-existent offices full-time, or Elon Musk requiring all of his employees to be in the office full-time. The tech industry as a whole is no longer embracing remote work as they once did even before the pandemic. Amazon, Google and JP Morgan are all enforcing more in-office days and believe in the axiom of remote work dying.
As we came out of the restrictions of the pandemic 49% of employers required their workers to be in the office full-time. At the end of 2024 that number had fallen to 32%. McKinsey Global Institute research found that 22% of workers in the U.S. can work from home between three to five days a week without compromising productivity.
Are we settling into a new rhythm defined by a hybrid work arrangement? Is full-time remote work dying? When employees work in remote-friendly jobs they spend an average of 2.3 days each week working from home. All workers, even those not in remote-friendly positions, work remotely 1.4 days a week or 28% of the time. At the end of 2023 31% of workers were fully remote and that went down to 25% at the end of 2024. But hybrid workspaces went from 20% in 2023 to 43% at the end of 2024.
More than half of job applicants prefer some flexibility in remote work. Employers and employees are still trying to strike the right balance between working from home and working at the office. In this tight job market employers are trying to align their desire for in-person work arrangements with their employees and potential employee’s preferences. Is your firm exercising this same flexibility?
