The 27% Remote Work Figure Is Wrong — and the Real Number Is Still Surprising
How Many People Work from Home?
A claim that 27% of U.S. work days are remote doesn't hold up. Online surveys like the SWAA and Census Pulse report around 29%, but in-person and phone surveys such as the ATUS and CPS land near 20% and 14%. The gap isn't random error: online panels skew toward remote workers, and the SWAA implies 70% of remotely doable jobs are already remote — while 20% of food and accommodation workers supposedly work from home. The true figure is closer to 20%, and we still know little about its effects.
How could it possibly be that 20% of workers in food and accommodation are working remotely? How can we believe that 20% of baristas, cooks, and hotel maids are working remotely?
- kshacker
I have been working for 35 years now (is that blast of cold air just the feeling of getting old?), and have been mostly remote since Covid. I did go back during the RTO wave, but only for about a year. Some family medical issues forced me to ask to work remotely, which the company somehow approved.
It has been a mixed bag. Some random thoughts.
On good days, I get an enormous amount done. Long stretches of uninterrupted, focused work. On other days, I drift aimlessly.
I have always been somewhat disorganized (ADHD or whatever), but the office provided some structure. You had to show up, sit at your desk, and at least make a reasonable attempt at working. Remote work removes the external discipline.
It is not that I don't get things done. When something needs to happen, I can still pull myself together. Just last week I worked until 2 AM to meet some deliverables. But the chaos between those bouts of productivity has grown.
I always had a habit of using a Tuesday evening to speed-run whatever I had been putting off and occasionally sacrificing a weekend to catch up. But with remote work, the boundaries between work and leisure have become very fuzzy.
Maybe it was just the last 2 months of election season that were bad. I tried to fix it before but could not, but the last week since the elections got over has been magical :)
I miss the casual interactions that come from being around other people. But I think at least half that nostalgia is for an office that doesn't really exis […]
- zeroq
I'm really torn on WFH.
I started my whole programming career as a freelancer and worked fully remotely for 6 years before ever going to an office. But that's a bit different, because I advertised as a freelancer/consultant, and in that period I rarely worked in a team. And even when I worked in a team, my areas of responsibility were completely mine.
On one hand I vividly recall my last BigCo full time employment. I enrolled to a newly opened office, which at that point in time wasn't even an office but a few rented cubicles in WeWork-like space. My daily routine for first couple of months was to come to the office, get into my cubicle and login to the Skype call with the rest of the people I was working - in different offices.
And for the rest of the day I sat there alone, occasionally hoping on other impromptu Skype calls.
I specifically asked couple of times if it would be possible for me to work from home, because I have zero personal interactions in the office, but over and over again I was told that WFH is strictly forbidden by the company policy.
That was pre-covid.
On the other hand, as someone who wore hats of leader/manager/director I have to admit - to this day - I find building teams, from ground up, in remote environment, almost impossible.
My very first office job had a very clever trick up their sleeve - we had a free lunch each day. Nobody skips a free lunch. Took me some time to realize how clever it was. To this day I have a draft of article in my desk tit […]
- Agentlien
I've been working on home full time since the pandemic. Before that I worked from home most days for about a year.
I have much better focus at home, I get much more done. But what really improves my life is three things.
1. Working from home, for me, means I skip the hour of commute one way, freeing up two hours a day to do other things than waiting on a crowded train. This is time spent mainly with my kids.
2. When I need a break I just do some chores. This means when I turn off the PC for the day not only am I already home, most chores are done. I no longer feel I come home late drowning in stuff I need to do.
3. I'm home with my own things, with my beautiful garden. When I need to think I do so while tending to my greenhouse, sitting in the backyard, or strolling through the forest. At the office I used to struggle to find a peaceful corner of the office where I could think properly.
- jjkaczor
I am perverse - self-employed, sub-contractor - I rent a commercial office space.
In 2020, when everyone was moving home - I was moving to that office. Much better focus than home - much better equipment than 99% of all former employers or clients.
It's not shared, I see no one all day - outside of 'meetings' (which are soooo much nicer with a giant screen, quality camera and microphone - the camera only gets used for the "getting-to-know-you" break-in period with a new client, then it's almost all audio-only) - and that is just the way I like it.
- lacoolj
Been WFH since covid full time. But, tbh I really miss the office. And I think the remote lifestyle killed our team at my last place.
We do what we can at my current place, but I still wish we had ways to get together. I've met a couple people that live(d) near me, and one has since moved.
If you have the option, don't be remote fully. At the very least be hybrid with a strict in office policy. You will not miss your at-home time.