On-Site Work Expected to Remain 'Relic of the Past': Poll

New data shows that a large majority of remote-capable employees want to stay in a hybrid or remote work environment. Only two in 10 of these employees work fully in person, as the on-site model fades. Here we explore the rise of remote work and its future.

By Lora Korpar

COVID-19 changed many aspects of how we live. Remote work is one of the most drastic changes we’ve seen, and new data shows it is not going away.

In June, Gallup polled more than 8,000 remote-capable workers in the United States. And 94% of respondents said they wanted to continue working in a hybrid or remote environment. 

The poll said fully in-person work is expected to remain “a relic of the past.” Only two in 10 remote-capable employees surveyed said they work entirely on-site, and about the same number said they expect to someday return to an in-person work model. For comparison, six in 10 said the same in 2019.

But why is this happening, and how can we adapt? Here, we discuss remote work’s prevalence, plus how the future of remote work looks.

Expectations for Remote Work

According to the Gallup poll, an estimated 70 million-plus U.S. workers say they can do their job remotely. As of June, 50% of respondents were working in a hybrid format, 30% were remote and only 20% were fully in-person.

Hybrid work continues to rise. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, only 22% of employers offered at least some remote work in 2019. That number has since more than doubled.

Gallup reported the amount of hybrid work increased from 42% in February to 49% in June. It estimates that figure will increase to 55% by the end of the year. 

Workers already remote at least part of the time tend to be less happy with the idea of another dramatic work environment change.

The increase in hybrid work is in line with 60% of remote-capable employees surveyed who said they wanted a long-term hybrid work environment.

Another 34% wanted to be fully remote. And though the data suggests these arrangements will decline by about 10% in the long term, remote work options are three times more prevalent than in 2019.

Michael Gutman, a remote work consultant and LinkedIn Learning educator, thinks in-person work won’t fizzle out for remote-capable workers. However, he thinks the ability to choose a work environment will become more important to current and future generations.

“As older generations age out [of the workforce], we're only going to have more and more tech-enabled generations coming in,” Gutman said. “And as you have more technology ingrained into the social structure of the way people communicate and collaborate, the more you're going to have people who want to be able to do work from anywhere.” 

Effects of Returning to In-Person Work

People don’t like major changes to their work routines. Many want to stick with remote work because they are used to its conveniences. And not having these needs met can have consequences.

Gallup says employees who don’t work in their preferred location are less engaged and experience more burnout. That increases the desire to quit.

Six in 10 exclusively remote respondents said they were "extremely likely to change companies" if their employer did not offer remote flexibility. Three in 10 hybrid employees said the same.

“Simply put, people want choice,” Gutman said. “When leadership dictates the terms of the employment by saying how and when you work, it means they're eliminating the choice people have to tell leadership how and when they work best.”

Remote work is not going away, so it is in a company’s best interest to adapt to employees’ needs. Part of that is trusting employees to know in what environment they work best.

“How many times do we see a company mandate that people have to go back into the office just to walk that back… and then go ahead and dissolve all the offices?” Gutman said. “I think what leadership are also trying to figure out is how we communicate our strategy to people while reinforcing trust in the decisions that leadership are making. 

“And I think one of the key pieces of doing that is to acknowledge what's in and out of your control. People can't control what the CDC guidelines are going to be. People can't control what the economic climate is going to be. But what they can control is how they invest in people and support people. And I think that's a misstep that a lot of organizations have made along the way.”

Adapting to a Remote Work World

Remote work started as a survival mechanism for companies to continue operating when the pandemic began. But two years later, companies should view it as a permanent solution.

“Essentially, [companies at first] were trying to figure out how to slap on Band-Aid solutions,” Gutman said. “But it's hard to come up for fresh air and think about overall strategy when you're just so focused on treading water. 

“So what I'm seeing is that people are now able to come up and say, ‘OK, let's take a step back. How has this been working?’ And they're starting to ask themselves, ‘What can we be doing better?’ And they're starting to make a shift from a reactive approach to a proactive and intentional approach.”  

Gutman says part of this new approach is not equating “butts in seats” to productivity.

“I always try to tell my clients they should work in a results-based performance strategy versus an effort-based performance strategy,” Gutman said. “And when you do that, it doesn't matter where you are or when you're working. You know if that person is performing or not because you have metrics being tied to their effort. Then you can look at how much effort it takes to build those results.”

Gutman added that measuring results should also lead to rewards. Those delivering consistently positive results should be eligible for promotions. Those needing more effort for the same results require additional professional development opportunities.

Gutman also stressed the importance of a “remote-first” approach in hybrid workplaces. Proximity bias makes us favor those who are close to us, which can make fully remote workers feel underappreciated.

To avoid this, make all office communications available to remote workers via messaging platforms like Slack and Google Chat. These will serve as a centralized location for anyone to access information anywhere.

“Having a remote-first approach where any type of communication also includes the people who are not sitting right next to you is important,” Gutman said. “It means that if the people are in the office and for one day they're working at a coffee shop, they're working at a family member's house, or they're taking a longer vacation, and some of that is a working vacation, they have access to that [communication] anytime, anyplace. So creating those collaboration and communication tools that people can access both synchronously and asynchronously allows for people to do that from anywhere.” 

Remember that 94% of remote-capable Americans want to stay that way at least part of the time. So, how will companies react?

Top Takeaways

The Future of Remote Work

• Most people who can work remotely want to be in a remote or hybrid environment.
• Hybrid work is on the rise, and many employees are willing to leave their jobs to find something with remote flexibility.
• Companies should trust their employees to know in which environment they work best.
• Hybrid managers should take a remote-first approach to ensure remote employees are acknowledged as much as in-person ones.