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Well it was a great run. Gone are the days of waking up two minutes before your first meeting and having to check your inbox in your pajamas for data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which believes the pandemic-era remote working boom is finally fizzled out.
According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report released last week, 72.5% of private sector jobs had “little or no telecommuting” in August and September 2022 — a number that rose 12.5% from July to September 2021. Likewise, the percentage of jobs involving home workers has fallen from 29.8% in 2021 to 16.4% in 2022. The work-from-home bubble hasn’t entirely burst, however, as 11.1% of employers allowed all their employees to work from home in 2022, up slightly from 10.3% in 2021.
Figure: Gizmodo/Datawrapper
It’s been just over three years since the Covid-19 pandemic forced us all indoors, turning our bedrooms and kitchen tables into our new offices, and some workers never wanted to go back. According to McKinsey’s American Opportunity Survey, 87% of employees who are offered the opportunity to work from home at least one day a week will take advantage of it.
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This desire is born for a variety of reasons, from a dislike of commuting to wanting to do laundry during the day to not having to pay the extremely high prices for childcare. The caveat here is that some companies don’t follow suit — particularly in the big tech space.
Last month, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced that starting May 1st, employees will have to show their faces in the office. Apple is also cracking down on remote work, with reports that the company is taking attendance via badge swipes. And just last week, it was reported that Twitter CEO Elon Musk was doubling his office mandate in a 2:30 a.m. email.