Englewood Cliffs, NJ–A recent study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has revealed that American remote workers prioritize well-being over work, spending the time saved in the office and commuting on other activities such as sleeping, leisure activities, and time in solitude or with loved ones.
According to the study, as many as 30% of full-time American workers only go to the office a few times a week, and 15% are still fully remote. In mid-2020, 60% of full-timers were working remotely.
The report by CNBC finds that a total of 60 million hours (by around 15 million employees) have been reclaimed and re-directed to activities other than work, potentially worrying corporations.
“The findings lend credence to the various reports on employees’ preferences for flexible work arrangements, given that cutting the commute enables people to spend their time on other activities, such as childcare or leisure,” the researchers at Federal Reserve Bank of New York stated in the study.
Over the last few months, many companies have begun calling their employees back to the office, adopting a hybrid work model (including Twitter, Apple, Microsoft, Citigroup, HSBC, and JPMorgan Chase ).
As this research shows, companies are looking to find the most efficient mode of work, where employees would be optimally motivated, and operations costs significantly reduced.
Another article by BBC delves into how the global workspace would never be the same since COVID. Remote work has been seen to be beneficial for both employees and large companies. As time passes and both parties weigh the various unknown pros and cons, the industry (corporations) will eventually have the final say about the future of remote work.
Per the article, a study conducted on a group of 4,700 knowledge workers shows that only 12% want to return to full-time office work, and 72% want a hybrid remote-office model moving forward.
