40+ Fascinating Remote Work Statistics (2024)
This article is a list of 40+ fascinating remote work statistics for 2024.
The remote work and work-from-home (WFH) trends have become increasingly prevalent in recent years. And both of these trends were accelerated by the pandemic.
And if you'd like to learn more about the current state of remote work, check out this up-to-date list of remote work stats.
Click for a specific section:
Contents
- Remote Work Growth Stats
- WFH Tool Use Stats
- Stats On Employee Attitudes Towards Remote Work
- Employer Attitudes To Remote Work Stats
- Impact Of The Pandemic On WFH
- Future Of Remote Working Stats
Top 2024 Remote Work Stats
- Almost one-third of workers are employed by exclusively remote companies.
- Two-thirds of businesses are making new investments in conferencing software.
- 4 in 5 remote employees would recommend working remotely to a friend.
- More than 50% of adult professionals believe that productivity is the biggest advantage of WFH.
Overall Remote Work Stats
4 in 5 employees claim they would “recommend working remotely to a friend” (Gartner)
A 2021 survey found that worldwide 80% of employees would “recommend working remotely to a friend” - down from 90% last in 2020.
“I would consider leaving my co-located company for a remote role” also saw a 10% drop, receiving 62% of votes in 2020 compared to 52% in 2021.
Despite waning enthusiasm, attitudes towards remote work and WFH are overwhelmingly positive.
Here is the full breakdown of each response given in the survey:
| Response | 2020 share of respondents | 2021 share of respondents |
| I recommend working remotely to a friend | 90% | 80% |
| I am satisfied with the tools and processes that enable remote team communication | 87% | 82% |
| My leadership team gives me agency and autonomy while working remotely | 86% | 80% |
| Remote work is the future of work | 86% | 82% |
| I am able to accomplish all of my tasks remotely | 84% | 80% |
| My leadership team understands what it takes to operate a team remotely | 84% | 82% |
| I would consider leaving my co-lated company for a remote role | 62% | 52% |
3 in 10 workers are employed by exclusively remote companies (Statista)
Remote work has become the standard for a growing number of organizations (at least part of the time).
A recent survey found that 30% of respondents work at an organization where “everyone at [their] company works remotely”.
An additional 43% of respondents answered “part of the team is full-time remote and part of the team works out of the same office”.
15% of those surveyed stated that “at my company, we can work from home as needed”. And 9% answered “at my company we can work remotely a certain number of days per week/month.
Finally, the remaining 3% of those surveyed responded “I am [a] solo business or freelancer and work remotely”.
More than half of remote workers started working from home since 2020 (GitLab)
A 2020 survey found that 56% of remote workers had been working from home for less than a year. Which shows just how quickly remote work has gone mainstream.
A further 21% of respondents had begun working from home less than five years ago. And an additional 14% of remote workers had begun working from home in the last 10 years.
The large proportion of new remote workers reflects the necessity of WFH for many employees.
Flexible scheduling is the most popular reason to WFH (GitLab)
Of the nine listed benefits of working from home, “flexible scheduling” is the most popular reason to work remotely. This is the case in the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia, all of which received a 50% or larger share of respondent votes.
The next most popular reason to work remotely varied across countries. In the UK and Canada, it is a “lack of commute”.
While in the US it is the ability to “care for family/pets/relatives”. And in Australia, it is the “cost of savings”.
Here are the full results of the 2020 survey:
| Benefit | USA respondents | UK respondents | Canada respondents | Australia respondents |
| Flexible scheduling | 53% | 50% | 56% | 50% |
| Lack of commute | 32% | 43% | 50% | 39% |
| Cost of savings | 33% | 33% | 36% | 43% |
| Able to care for family, pets, aging/sick relatives, etc. | 36% | 34% | 33% | 32% |
| Reduced anxiety/stress | 34% | 32% | 28% | 28% |
| Improved health (mental, physical, spiritual, etc.) | 26% | 25% | 22% | 30% |
| Freedom to travel/relocate | 26% | 18% | 13% | 21% |
| Able to live where you want to live | 23% | 15% | 16% | 21% |
| Reduced office politics | 18% | 19% | 17% | 22% |
Two-thirds of businesses are investing in web conferencing software (TrustRadius)
Remote working requires specific tools to assist the job.
One such tool is web conferencing software. As of April 2021 survey found that 67% of businesses have increased spending on web conferencing software - the largest increase in WFH tool spending.
Over half of all businesses surveyed are also increasing expenditure on collaboration tools (57%) and remote desktop tools (52%).
Here is the full breakdown of increased business spending on WFH tools:
| WFH tool | Share of respondents |
| Web conferencing software | 67% |
| Collaboration tools | 57% |
| Remote desktop tools | 52% |
| Security software | 41% |
| Learning management software | 23% |
| Time tracking tools | 14% |
| Telemedicine | 11% |
| Other | 11% |
WFH Tool Use Stats
Microsoft Teams daily active users exceeded 100 million in 2020 (Microsoft, ZDNet)
Microsoft's Zoom competitor has increased from 13 million monthly users in July 2019. And reached 115 million daily users in October 2020.
In April 2021, 145 million daily users were recorded for Microsoft Teams.
And in January 2022, Teams hit 270 million monthly users.
Microsoft Office 365 global productivity software market share stands at just over 30% (Enlyft)
Microsoft Office 365 has a 31.71% market share.
The US office suite market is entirely shared by Google and Microsoft (Datanyze)
Google’s G Suite has a 59.41% office suite market share in the US.
Office 365 has a 40.39% office suite market share in the US - approximately 1.5x less than G Suite.
The collaboration software market will generate over $17 billion by 2025 (Apps Run the World)
The collaborative software market has grown year-over-year since 2015. And is expected to continue to grow until 2025.
In 2020, the collaborative software market generated an estimated $16 billion.
In 2025, it is forecast that the collaborative software market will generate $17.9 billion in total market revenue.
Cloud-based conferencing end-user spending was estimated to reach almost $5 billion in 2023 (Gartner)
In 2018, global end-user spending on cloud-based conferencing solutions totaled $2.7 billion.
This figure climbed to $3.3 billion the following year. And increased further to an approximate $4.1 billion in 2020.
Global end-user spending on cloud-based conferencing solutions was expected to reach an estimated $4.8 billion in 2023.
Stats on Employee Attitudes Towards Remote Work
Tech employees believe they are more productive working from home (TrustRadius)
The majority of tech employees surveyed during the pandemic claimed they were more productive when working remotely.
Around a quarter (24%) believe that working from home does not affect their productivity.
Only 17% of tech employees believe that they are less productive when working from home - more than 3x fewer people than those who believe they are more productive from home.
Being able to have a flexible schedule is the top remote-working benefit (Buffer)
"Flexibility in how I spend my time" was voted as the top benefit to working from home, with 67% of respondents deeming it important.
The next most popular benefits are “a flexibility to choose my work location” (62%), “more time because I don't commute” (59%), “flexibility to live where I choose” (55%), and “it's better for me financially" (48%).
The least voted for benefit was “flexibility in my career options” with 29% of respondents voting for this.
Not being able to unplug is the biggest remote working struggle (Buffer)
According to a 2022 study, “not being able to unplug” is the biggest remote working struggle with a 25% share of votes. This is up 7% on 2020’s results which ranked “not being able to unplug” third overall.
“Loneliness” received a 24% share of votes - an 8% rise from 2021.
“Career advancement" received the lowest proportion of votes with just 15%.
Half of all global organizations believe empowering the remote workforce is important (IBM Institute for Business Value)
A 2020 survey found that around 3 in 5 CEOs think that “empowering remote workforce” is an important part of their company's strategy. This was the most common “important strategy”.
Over half of respondents (54%) also believe that “accelerating agility” is important to their business strategy.
Other strategies important to businesses are “reducing operating costs” (48%), “engaging customers virtually” (41%), “enhancing supply chain continuity” (41%), and “balancing business portfolio” (41%).
Almost half of employees believe remote workplace collaboration has improved since before the pandemic (PwC)
44% of employees believe that “collaborating on new projects” remotely has improved since the start of the pandemic. This is over 2x more than the 17% who believe it has worsened.
Similarly, 44% of employees believe that “coaching employees to succeed” has improved since the start of the pandemic. And just 20% think this aspect has worsened.
The most even split in terms of opinion comes from recruitment.
38% of those surveyed think “onboarding new hires” has improved since the start of the pandemic. 27% think it has worsened. And 35% believe there has been no change in onboarding quality.
Employer Attitudes to Remote Work Stats
Approximately 4 in 5 US employers believe remote work is successful (PwC)
An 83% share of US employers surveyed in Q4 2020 believe that remote work is “successful”. This is compared to 71% of US employees.
Just 6% of US employers believe that remote work is not successful. The same figure is true for US employees.
Finally, 11% of US employers believe that remote work garners “mixed results”. And 23% of US employees feel the same.
19 in 20 company executives still believe employees need to be in the office to maintain a strong company culture (PwC)
Despite increasing remote opportunities, company executives tend to believe that employees must spend at least some of their working week in the office in order to “keep a strong [company] culture”.
Just 5% of US company executives surveyed in 2020 believe that “employees don’t need to be in the office to maintain company culture”.
The most commonly given answer was “three days per week” with a 29% share of respondents opting for this duration.
Here is a full breakdown of how long company executives believe employees should spend in the office:
| Duration employees should spend in the office* | Share of respondents |
| No time | 5% |
| About one to three days per month | 6% |
| One day per week | 5% |
| Two days per week | 15% |
| Three days per week | 29% |
| Four days per week | 18% |
| Five days per week | 21% |
*according to company executives
Over half of adult professionals believe that the biggest benefit of remote work is increased productivity (PwC)
A 2021 survey conducted across multiple countries including the US and the UK found 52% of respondents deemed “increased productivity” to be the biggest benefit to remote work.
“Increased efficiency” received 48% of the votes. While “increased employee morale” and “increased employee loyalty/retention” received 44% and 43% respectively.
Impact of the Pandemic on WFH
The IT industry has increased its productivity due to remote work (Capgemini)
Across the board, organizations are largely reporting increased productivity due to remote work.
According to a 2020 survey assessing change in productivity as a result of remote work, 68% of IT/digital organizations have reported an increase in productivity. And just 15% of the industry reported a decrease in productivity.
All 11 industries surveyed had over 50% of organizations report increased productivity. Only one industry (research and development/innovation) reported a decrease in productivity by more than 20% of organizations (26%).
Almost three-quarters of new remote workers will remain so post-COVID (Gartner)
Around 3 in 4 remote employees who were not working remotely pre-COVID will remain in a remote role post-COVID.
Breaking this down, 27% of respondents claim that 1 in 20 employees within their organization will remain working remotely.
A further 25% claim that 1 in 10 employees within their organization will remain working remotely. And 20% responded that 1 in 5 employees will remain remote.
4% of respondents claim that half of their company’s employees will remain remote permanently. And 2% of respondents say over half of their organization’s workers will continue to work remotely.
Future of Remote Working Stats
Almost 2 in 3 B2B companies increased web & video conferencing spending (TrustRadius)
A 2020 survey found that 64% of B2B businesses planned to increase “web & video conferencing” spending in 2021. And just 7% planned to decrease this expenditure.
This was the most common category to increase in business spending. And is in line with a surge in remote work.
The second-most common category was “online collaboration & project management” with 53% of organizations planning to increase spending last year. And just 8% of organizations planned to reduce spending.
This, too, suggests a larger focus on remote work.
Over 70% of US company executives aim to prioritize tools for virtual collaboration (PwC)
“Tools for virtual collaboration” is the most popular area for future investment among US company executives with 72% aiming to prioritize this area.
Similarly, 70% of US company executives plan to invest further in “IT infrastructure to secure virtual connectivity”. And 64% want to invest in “training for managers to manage a more virtual workforce”.
The vast majority of the finance and insurance industry could potentially work remotely (PwC)
Looking forward, there is still a lot of room for growth in the remote workforce. Certain industries lend themselves well to remote work, creating yet untapped potential for more employees to WFH.
A 2020 model suggests that the finance and insurance industry has the largest theoretical maximum percentage of remote workers, with 86% able to WFH.
This is followed by the management industry with 78%. And the professional, scientific, and technical services industry with 75%.
The least appropriate industries for remote working according to the model are construction (20%), accommodation and food services (9%), and agriculture (7%).
Conclusion
That’s all for our remote work statistics.
It is clear that, despite much of the world opening up and returning to the office, the remote workspace is here to stay. Attitudes are beginning to shift more in favor of working from home. And organizations are seemingly following suit.
Having been propelled into public consciousness by the pandemic, remote work is set to become a mainstay in many people’s lives even beyond COVID.
If you found this page useful, have a look at our key remote work trends, workplace trends to watch, and future of work posts.
