The ultimate list of remote work statistics: 2024 edition

If you’re looking for a comprehensive list of remote work statistics to help you make data-based decisions or simply support your desire to explore numbers and facts about remote work, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ve gathered relevant remote work statistics for 2024, ranging from the latest global studies to country- or region-specific statistics.

Remote work is not the new normal – it’s simply normal, the same as hybrid work. Or at least that’s what we’re thinking here at DeskTime. 

But do remote working statistics support our team’s opinion, or do we and some of you live in a bubble? Let’s turn to the numbers and find out the latest tendencies.

Remote work statistics for 2024

Remote work continues to cause conflicting opinions even after being in the spotlight for several years. One way to find clarity within the sea of subjective truths is to turn to remote work statistics and let the data speak. Thus, that’s exactly what we’re doing here. 

Remote work statistics – global perception

Here are some remote work statistics that provide global insight into how employees and employers perceive working in a non-office environment.

• According to this study, most employees – 98% – would like to work remotely (at least some of the time) for the rest of their careers, and 91% view their remote work experience as positive. Moreover, 71% of the study’s respondents said they prefer the fully remote working model. Only 1% said they’d go for the full-time office option. 

• Participants in this study report flexibility of all kinds as the main benefit of remote working. For 22% of respondents, it’s the flexibility of how they spend their time; for 19%, – the flexibility of place of living, and for 13%, it’s the flexibility of working location.

• When it comes to remote job listings worldwide, the most popular job titles are account executives/managers, software engineers, and digital marketers, according to this report. Fields such as customer success, customer service, product management, and data analysis are less prevalent but still very common.

• Another interesting finding regarding remote positions is that employers usually require more experience when hiring remote employees. The average years of experience required for remote openings were 5.3 years, while non-remote titles required 4.3 years. The same source has found that entry-level positions are least likely to offer remote work options, whereas it’s twice as common for senior-level positions.

• However, there are also downsides to working remotely. For example, this study found that remote work makes people stay home more than they would want (21% of the respondents). 15% said remote work contributes to loneliness, while 11% struggle with unplugging and motivation when working from a non-office location.

• According to this report, remote work levels are higher in English-speaking countries, with Canada, the UK, and the USA as the leaders. Working from a non-office environment is the least prevalent around Asia.  

• Hybrid work is another aspect that must be considered when examining the current state of remote work worldwide. According to this report, hybrid workers split their time between working remotely and going into the office, with 36% opting for two days per week and 34% choosing three days per week.

• Approximately 45% of employees worldwide believe their employer is unlikely to alter their remote or hybrid work policies within the coming year, as stated by this report.

• According to 58% of managers, hybrid and remote-working employees are perceived to lack spontaneous or informal feedback and developmental opportunities. In contrast, only 41% of hybrid and remote employees themselves think that (source). 

• Moreover, a hybrid work setting is preferred by employees globally (54% of workers), whereas 54% of employers mandate in-office work, according to one study.

• In the context of hybrid work, a new trend is prevalent – the so-called coffee badging, which involves going into the office to show face for only a few hours and then leaving. This study says that 39% of hybrid employees have coffee badged or do it regularly.

Remote working statistics across Europe

Now, let’s look into some region-specific remote working statistics, starting with Europe.

• 96% of central London office workers are allowed to work from home in some capacity, whereas in Paris, 80% of office workers are permitted to do so, according to this study. Regarding fully remote working – 7% of Parisians and 16% of London workers are allowed to work remotely full-time.

• In the Netherlands and France, only 1% of employees work remotely full-time.

• According to 66% of employees from the Netherlands, UK, Nordics, France, and Germany, working from home should be a legal right. Plus, 61% of French employees believe employers require them to work full-time from the office due to traditional work expectations (source).

• Hybrid work is blooming across Europe – employees love it, and employers are okay with it. According to one report, 43% of job listings on UK LinkedIn were hybrid, while in France and Germany, it was 31%.

• Moreover, hybrid work is not just about job offers, it’s also about workers’ preferences. 51% of German employees work in a hybrid mode, followed by 48% of workers in the Netherlands, 47% in France, and 46% in the UK (source).

Remote working in India

Moving on to remote working statistics in India.

• According to one study, 12.7% of full-time office employees in India work from home, while 28.2% have adopted a hybrid working model. 

• Regarding job seekers in India, 71% prefer flexible options – flexible environments, flexible hours, and overall work-life balance supporting attitude (source).

• The forerunners of adopting remote work practices in India have been and still are IT and tech industry companies. In fact, 58% of Indian tech workers would choose a position that offers a remote work option, even if it means a smaller salary, according to a survey.

• However, it looks like remote or hybrid work is in the best interest of employers in India, too – 50% of Indian employees working in a hybrid mode consider themselves notably more productive than when working from an office, according to this survey. 

• Indian hybrid workers report that they prefer virtual meetings over in-person gatherings. And understandably so – it’s a significant time-saver. 

• However, another study found that the employee’s preference for where the meeting should be conducted depends on its purpose. 61% of Indian respondents think team-bonding meetings should happen in person, 62% prefer 1:1 meetings with a manager to occur in person, and 54% favor training in an office, too. Meetings that cover company news or updates, kickoff meetings for projects, and brainstorming sessions are welcome to happen virtually, according to Indian employees. 

• How about collaboration tools among remote and hybrid workers in India? One study has found that 68% of such workers always use email to collaborate with their co-workers, while 51% prefer tools like Google Docs or Microsoft 365. Video meetings and phone calls are third in the list of preferences. 

US-specific remote work statistics

And, of course, we had to look into the remote work statistics from the U.S. as it usually brings intriguing revelations.

• Estimates of how many employees in the U.S. work remotely vary widely. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates it could be around 27%, while plenty of other studies suggest it’s closer to 50%. 

• For example, this study has discovered that the prevalence of full-time remote work among U.S. employees has decreased. However, hybrid work has become a common choice – 41% of workers who could stay remote are choosing a hybrid option.

• According to this report, when it comes to the number of days that hybrid workers spend remotely vs. in the office, 59% of hybrid employees work remotely three or more days a week, and 41% do so two days per week or less. 

• An annual report exploring the state of workers in the U.S. has found that employees prefer hybrid work over fully remote work – 29% would go for hybrid, while 23% of respondents would stay loyal to remote work.

• More studies exploring remote and hybrid work have revealed that the hybrid option has won the hearts of Americans. For example, this report has found that hybrid employees show higher engagement at work than those working from home 100% of the time. 

• With the rise of remote work, the hiring pool has also broadened for companies. However, when it comes to hiring non-US remote and hybrid employees, U.S. employers like to keep it local. According to this study, 75% of remote employees are US-based, which has remained the same since 2020.

• Looking into the prevalence of remote workers across different states, some discoveries are worth mentioning. One report has found that employers offer the most flexibility in more rural areas where it can be challenging to attract local talent. The highest percentage of remote job listings is in Vermont (44%), followed by Wyoming (41%) and North Dakota (40%).

• What’s interesting about flexible work options in the U.S. is that according to this report, Miami, Baltimore, and Houston are the cities with the least flexible work arrangements.

• But how do remote employees in the U.S. perceive this flexibility, and what are the most considerable benefits, in their opinion? It turns out it does magic to work-life balance – 71% of full-time remote workers say it helps balance their professional and personal lives. Moreover, 56% of remote workers find this setting helpful in meeting their work deadlines (source). 

• There are, of course, some aspects that remote or hybrid settings can mess with. One such is connecting with co-workers, as said by 53% of respondents in this survey. However, 37% of the respondents remain neutral, and 10% even say remote work helps build connections. 

And some more remote work statistics 

When exploring the latest and most relevant remote work statistics, we found plenty of data that wasn’t region-specific, but we wanted to share it with you anyway. Read on to learn some gender-related working from home stats, remote work productivity statistics, and more.

• You might think remote workers would have a dedicated office space in their homes, as it’s been four years since the first major wave of WFH. While most (82%) have home offices or dedicated places, according to this report, 21% of remote workers work from their bedrooms, and 20% prefer their couch as a working spot. Interestingly, the same report shows a significant decrease in those working remotely from coworking spaces and coffee shops compared to 2021. 

• There’s a significant difference in how return-to-office mandates are perceived by male and female workers. One study found that male workers are almost twice as likely to be ok with a company’s mandate to go back to the office to boost work productivity than female employees.

• Speaking of gender specifics around remote and hybrid work settings – female workers’ ambitions have benefited from flexibility in work settings. According to this annual report, many women working remotely or in a hybrid setting feel less tired and burned out. Plenty also report having better focus when dealing with work remotely. And we cannot overlook another crucial aspect – women working remotely face fewer microaggressions and often feel psychologically safer than working in the office.

• Another side of remote work statistics worth looking into is generational differences. GenZ is the one generation that stands out in many fields, including remote and hybrid work. According to this report, 77% of GenZ workers in hybrid or remote settings would consider switching to another job if their employee asked to come into the office full-time.

• Moreover, Gen Z and Millennials are the two generations that greatly appreciate the benefits of remote and hybrid work. In addition to the often-mentioned boost in work-life balance, they report remote and hybrid settings as money-saving and beneficial to one’s mental health. 

• As promised, we looked into some remote work productivity statistics. Generally, the majority of remote and hybrid employees report heightened productivity levels, while another big part says that their work location doesn’t impact their productivity. What’s intriguing is that, according to this research, employers are the ones struggling to trust their employees to be productive when working remotely – 85% of leaders blame hybrid work for that specifically.

• However, the issue of employers’ trust might be explained more easily than expected. This study found that only 25% of remote teams have the tools to manage their employees’ productivity efficiently, including tools to measure productivity levels. 

Bonus: What media says about the state of remote work in 2024

After delving into remote work statistics, we decided to explore some hot trends and stories related to the state of remote work around media. Here are three stories that caught our attention.

At the end of January 2024, The Wall Street Journal wrote about large players such as UPS, Boeing, JPMorgan Chase, and others insisting that their workers return to offices full-time. The request was partially justified by the fact that front-line employees had no remote option due to the specifics of their jobs, while corporate workers could easily do hybrid work. Hence, to promote equality, the giants demanded employees return to offices.

A great read by CNBC’s Morgan Smith explored Atlassian co-CEO Scott Farquhar’s predictions on what remote work would look like in 2024. He knowingly stated that remote jobs are not leaving the stage. However, remote and hybrid positions might introduce stricter rules in workplaces globally.

Euronews reported that companies are actively seeking ways to save money in 2024, and one way to do this is to reduce the salaries of remote workers. However, this radical step was mentioned as appealing only by a few companies.

To all the geeks out there loving remote work statistics

DeskTime loves a great dive into data and statistics to explore various trends, and we loved browsing through all sorts of remote work statistics. We hope that so did you. 

Now that you’ve learned region-specific and other data and seen the underlying trends related to remote and hybrid work settings, you can make data-based team management decisions (if you’re a manager), prove points in favor of remote work (if you’re an employee fighting for flexibility at work), and simply enjoy the benefits of remote and hybrid work settings if you’re already there.