Up until a few years ago, remote working was not accepted very openly. And by that we mean that it generally had a not-so-great reputation.
At the time, employers believed that it was not a good alternative as employees may easily get distracted while working from home, and that it should be a privilege extended to a select few who had genuine reasons for working remotely.
Remote working was indeed somewhat of a rarity a decade ago. But today, companies both big and small view it very differently, especially in light of the COVID-19 lockdown.
Remote working in the present day has advanced to the point where many businesses are thriving and generating steady revenue streams with fully remote teams – with many even saving large amounts of business resources which would otherwise go into overheads, operating costs or employee conveyance allowance, for instance.
The state of remote working today
A report released in January 2020 identified certain workforce trends that dominated in the last 10 years. One of them was remote working, which has actually expanded by a whopping 400% since then.
The same report revealed that remote work popularity has increased largely due to how supporting technologies have evolved, such as super-fast and more reliable internet connections, mobile devices that are nearly as powerful as a high-end PC and more acceptance towards cloud-based solutions, just to name a few.
The report said that among the 912 US employees surveyed – 598 of whom had been in the workforce for at least 10 years) – 78% said they worked remotely some of the time, while 58% said they worked remotely at least once every month; 36% said they worked remotely once a week.
If you think about it, 36% may not seem like a huge ratio, but it’s a very major jump compared to 10 years ago. In 2010, for example, the US Census Bureau revealed that a mere 9.5% of employees worked remotely once a week – indicating the total number of people working remotely once a week has increased by almost 400% between 2010 and today.
Why remote working is here to stay
Remote working entails a bevy of benefits for not just the remote workers themselves but also the organizations they represent. For instance, fewer people in the office space means much lower real estate related expenditures to deal with.
A Gartner report estimates that by the year 2021, the perpetual increase in remotely working professionals will enable companies to support at least up to 40% more workers in the same office space that they are currently utilizing.
Additionally, remote working attracts more talent and boosts employee satisfaction as well, the Gartner report concluded.
In fact, a survey released by Gallup stated that 37% of employees would swap their jobs without a second thought with those that allowed remote working as a benefit.
Closing thoughts on how remote working has changed in 10 years
In the present day and age, remote working will undeniably benefit any company as it promotes flexibility and enhances job satisfaction levels.
It is estimated that by the end of 2020, at least 72% of the US workforce will be working remotely. Well, that’s not at all surprising to know.
