Most Teleworkers Are at Home by Choice Rather Than Necessity

Working from home still dominates company operations, but the percentage has declined since October 2020, according to new Pew Research findings.

Nearly two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, roughly six-in-ten US workers who say their jobs can mainly be done from home (59%) are working from home all or most of the time.

The vast majority of these workers (83%) say they were working from home (WFH) even before the omicron variant started to spread in the United States, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. 

This marks a decline from October 2020, when 71% of those with jobs that could be done from home were working from home all or most of the time, but it’s still much higher than the 23% who say they teleworked frequently before the coronavirus outbreak.

More WFH By Choice, Not Necessity

The number of those who are say they are doing so because of choice is up and the number who are choosing to for fear of the COVID-19 virus is down. Those who have relocated and are WFH also has increased.

The impetus for working from home has shifted considerably since 2020. Today, more workers say they are doing this by choice rather than necessity. 

Among those who have a workplace outside of their home, 61% now say they are choosing not to go into their workplace, while 38% say they’re working from home because their workplace is closed or unavailable to them. 

Earlier in the pandemic, just the opposite was true: 64% said they were working from home because their office was closed, and 36% said they were choosing to work from home.

For those who do have access to their workplaces but are opting to work mainly from home, their reasons for doing so have changed since fall 2020. 

Fewer cite concerns about being exposed to the coronavirus—42% now vs. 57% in 2020 say this is a major reason they are currently working from home all or most of the time. And more say a preference for working from home is a major reason they’re doing so (76% now vs. 60% in 2020). 

There’s also been a significant increase since 2020 (from 9% to 17%) in the share saying the fact that they’ve relocated away from the area where they work is a major reason why they’re currently teleworking.

WFH a New Concept for Most

Working from home is a relatively new experience for a majority of workers with jobs that can be done remotely—57% say they rarely or never worked from home prior to the coronavirus outbreak. 

For those who have made the switch to telework, their work lives have changed in some significant ways. On the plus side, most (64%) of those who are now working from home at least some of the time but rarely or never did before the pandemic say it’s easier now for them to balance work with their personal life. 

And many (44%) say working from home has made it easier for them to get their work done and meet deadlines, while very few (10%) say it’s been harder to do this. At the same time, 60% say they feel less connected to their co-workers now. Most (72%) say working from home hasn’t affected their ability to advance in their job.

Majority Want WFH to Continue Post-COVID

Looking to the future, 60% of workers with jobs that can be done from home say when the coronavirus outbreak is over, if they have the choice, they’d like to work from home all or most of the time. 

This is up from 54% who said the same in 2020. Among those who are currently working from home all or most of the time, 78% say they’d like to continue to do so after the pandemic, up from 64% in 2020.