In spring 2022, 25,000 Americans were asked about remote employment options and how they were embracing them by McKinsey and the market research firm Ipsos.
Here are the most important findings from the third McKinsey’s American Opportunity Survey:
1. Thirty-five percent of people with jobs can work from home full-time, and 23% can do it part-time.
Amazingly, 58 percent of respondents who were employed said they had the choice to work from home for some or all of the week.
35 percent of respondents claim they are able to work remotely full-time. An further 23 percent are able to work from home one to four days every week. Only 13% of respondents who were working said they could work remotely at least occasionally but chose not to.
The choice is unavailable to 41% of the respondents who are employed. The reason for this can be that not all tasks can be completed remotely or that companies just want on-site employment. Given that employees seek flexibility, firms may need to look into ways to provide it in order to effectively compete for talent.
2. Almost everyone accepts the chance to work flexibly when it is presented.
Eighty-seven percent of workers who are offered at least some remote work take it, working from home an average of three days a week. On average, people who were given full-time flexible work worked from home 3.3 days per week.
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3. The majority of workers favor flexibility, but averages hide the critical differences.
People of all sexes, races, ages, educational backgrounds, and levels of income agree on one thing consistently: the vast majority of individuals who can work from home do so. In reality, they simply want more flexibility: while 58 percent of respondents who are now working say they can work from home at least occasionally, 65 percent of those same respondents say they would be open to doing so constantly.
Opportunities are not uniform, however: there was a large difference between the number of employed men who reported that they were offered opportunities to work remotely (61 percent) and women (52 percent). Across all income levels, younger workers were more likely than older workers to report that they had the opportunity to work from home.
4. “Most industries support some flexibility, but digital workers demand it”.
Most employed individuals in the computer and mathematics fields report having access to remote work opportunities, and 77% say they would be willing to work entirely from home. Even those with lower overall work-from-home habits may find that the technologists they hire need it due to the speedy digital transformations occurring throughout industries.
5. Job hunters place a high importance on having the freedom to choose their own schedule and location to work.
The study questioned participants if they had recently looked for work or planned to do so soon. Unsurprisingly, the need for higher compensation or more hours was the most frequent justification for looking for a job, followed by a search for better career chances. The third most common justification was the desire for a flexible work schedule.
6. Flexible working employees report challenges to achieving their full potential.
Respondents were asked to list the challenges they faced in carrying out their duties efficiently in the poll. Those who worked in a flexible model were most likely to report multiple barriers, followed by those who worked entirely remotely, and then those who worked in an office setting.
Some obstacles were cited to a much higher degree by certain groups: For example, 55 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds who were offered the opportunity to work entirely remotely said that mental health issues affected their ability to work effectively, while only 17 percent of 55- to 64-year-olds said the same. Workers with children at home who were offered the option of full-time remote work were far more likely than their counterparts without children to say that physical health issues or a hostile work environment had a moderate or severe impact on their work.