Remote work facts for kids

Percentage of workers who worked from home in 2019

Many people believe that working from home will become more common in the future to help the environment.

The United States Marine Corps started allowing remote work in 2010.

Remote work means doing your job from a place other than a traditional office, like your home or a different location. It's also known as telecommuting, telework, or work from home. Sometimes, people do hybrid work, which means they work from home some days and from an office on others.

This way of working started small in the 1970s. Back then, special technology allowed people in different offices to connect to a main computer using phone lines. It became much more common in the 1990s and 2000s. This was thanks to the internet and tools like online meeting software and cloud computing. In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic happened, many office workers around the world quickly switched to working from home. A lot of them still work remotely even after the pandemic rules ended.

People who support remote work say it saves money because companies don't need huge offices. It also gives workers more freedom and makes them happier. It helps the environment by reducing car commutes. Plus, companies can hire people from anywhere, and workers can live where they prefer.

However, some people think remote work has downsides. They argue that online tools can't fully replace talking to people face-to-face. Workers might get distracted more easily at home. It can also be hard to separate work life from home life. Less social interaction might make some people feel lonely.

What is Remote Work?

The term "remote work" became very popular during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was when many office workers had to work from home. Before that, working from home was mostly called "telecommuting."

The word "telework" is often used to mean the same thing as "telecommuting." However, Jack Nilles, who created both words in 1973, meant "telecommuting" to be just one type of "telework." Telework, for him, meant using technology instead of traveling to the office.

There are many terms for working away from the office. These include "distributed work," "work-from-home (WFH)," "mobile work," "agile work," "home working" (used a lot in the U.K.), "flexible work," "work from anywhere," and "hybrid work." All these different terms can sometimes cause confusion, especially when it comes to rules about jobs and taxes.

How Remote Work Started

In the early 1970s, new technology allowed smaller offices to connect to large main computers using phone lines. This was the beginning of "telecommuting" and "telework," terms created by Jack Nilles in 1973. In 1979, the company IBM let five employees try working from home. By 1983, this experiment grew to include 2,000 people. Soon, people could connect to company computers from branch offices or their homes using personal computers.

In 1995, a famous saying was created: "Work is something you do, not something you travel to." This idea means that where you are doesn't matter as much as what you get done.

Since the 1980s, working remotely has slowly become more common. For example, in the U.S., the number of people working from home grew by 4 million between 2003 and 2006. By 1983, even university professors were trying out online meetings.

In the 1990s and 2000s, technology made remote work much easier. Tools like shared online documents, secure network connections (VPNs), conference calls, and video calls became popular. The internet, cloud computing, and mobile devices like laptops, tablets, and smartphones also helped. Software like Zoom, Webex, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Slack, and WhatsApp made it simple to connect.

In 1992, a writer named Carl Malamud wrote about a "digital nomad." This was someone who traveled the world with a laptop, working from different places. In 1993, guidebooks called the "Digital Nomad's Guide" series came out. They used the term "digital nomad" to describe how new technology allowed people to work from anywhere.

In Europe, shared workspaces called "hacker spaces" in the 1990s led to the idea of "coworking." The first official coworking space opened in 2005.

In 2010, a law in the United States called the Telework Enhancement Act said that government agencies should allow remote work as much as possible. This was as long as employees still did their jobs well.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of people started working remotely for the first time. Cities where many remote workers moved were sometimes called "Zoom towns." By 2022, many Americans stopped working from home, and the number of companies reporting remote work went back to levels seen before the pandemic.

In 1996, the International Labour Organization (ILO) created the Home Work Convention. This was a treaty to protect people who work from their own homes. Also, during the "Information Age," many new companies started in people's homes because the founders didn't have much money for an office.

Remote Work During COVID-19

Working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic was a huge change for many companies. However, this change happened very quickly. New technologies and ways of working had to be used without much testing or training. Companies worried about losing their company culture and how much work got done. Workers were more concerned about not seeing their colleagues, having good internet, and having more work to do. Also, about 25% of remote workers in America didn't want to go back to working in an office.

During the pandemic, remote work seemed to work better for people who earned more money or were in higher management. They often felt more productive and happier. But people who earned less sometimes had their pay reduced.

Utility bills, like electricity, also went up for many people during the pandemic. This was especially true for minorities and people with lower incomes. They often lived in older homes that weren't as good at saving energy. Bills also increased because people used their utilities at different times of the day.

Remote Work in Numbers

In a survey, 36% of Europeans said they wanted remote work to be encouraged to help fight climate change.

A survey in September 2021 found that 45% of full-time workers in the U.S. worked from home. This included 25% who worked from home all the time and 20% who worked from home some of the time.

In 2020, about 12.3% of people aged 15–64 in the European Union usually worked from home. This included more women (13.2%) than men (11.5%). Finland had the highest percentage of remote workers (25.1%), while Bulgaria had the lowest (1.2%).

In 2021, 91% of U.S. workers who worked from home said they wanted to keep doing so in the future. In the same 2021 study, 54% of workers thought their company's culture wouldn't change with remote work. 12% thought it would get better, and 33% thought it would get worse.

Figures for 2022 showed that about 30% of people lived in countries where most workplaces were closed, except for essential businesses. About 42% lived in countries where certain businesses or types of workers had to close. Nearly 20% lived where workplace closures were suggested but not required.

In February 2023, a study found that among U.S. employees who could work remotely, 20% worked only in the office, 28% worked only remotely, and 52% did a mix of both (hybrid).

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management reported that in 2020, half of all U.S. federal workers could work remotely. Agencies saved over $180 million that year because of remote work.

In 2023, an expert named Nicholas Bloom said that about one-third of all working days are now remote. This is a big jump from 5% before the pandemic. He believes this trend will continue because technology is getting better. However, he also thinks remote work won't be right for every type of job.

Good Things About Remote Work

Saving Money

Remote work can save companies money. They might need less office space, which means less rent. They also save on things like parking, computer equipment, furniture, and heating or cooling the office. Sometimes, workers might pay for some office expenses themselves, but this can lead to disagreements.

Remote work also saves money for the workers. They spend less on commuting (traveling to work) and work clothes. It also means they can live in a cheaper area, even if their company is in an expensive city.

Happier Workers and More Freedom

When employees have more freedom and get feedback on their work, they tend to be more motivated and satisfied. This can also lead to better job performance and fewer sick days. Remote work gives people more control over their schedule, which helps them balance work with family life. For example, they can be more flexible for family needs. This freedom can make employees more involved in their work.

Remote workers have more flexibility to choose when and where they work to do their best. This helps them manage their work and personal activities better. However, this freedom also means they need to be very disciplined to keep a good balance between work and free time.

Remote work can make it easier for people to handle both their job and family duties, like taking care of children or older parents. It saves time by cutting out travel, especially time stuck in traffic. This can improve their overall quality of life.

Many companies now offer remote or hybrid work options to attract new employees. A hybrid model means employees split their time between working in the office and working from home.

A large study in 2007 looked at 46 other studies about remote work. It found that remote work generally has good effects on workers. It makes them more satisfied with their jobs, feel more in control, less stressed, and better at their jobs. It also helps reduce conflicts between work and family life, and makes employees less likely to want to leave their jobs.

Helping the Environment

Remote work can help reduce traffic jams and air pollution because fewer cars are on the roads.

Most studies show that remote work generally leads to less energy use. This is because people spend less time driving cars, which use a lot of energy. It also means cleaner air and less electricity used in offices.

During the COVID-19 lockdowns, when many people worked remotely, global carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions went down. This was partly because fewer people were driving cars. However, emissions quickly went back up the next year.

The increase in remote work also led some people to move out of cities into bigger homes. These homes often had space for a home office.

Getting More Done

Many people believe remote work helps employees be more productive. A study in 2013 found that call-center employees working remotely at a Chinese travel agency were 13% more productive. An analysis up to March 2021 showed that almost 6 out of 10 workers felt they were more productive working from home than they expected. Only 14% felt they got less done.

With remote work, hours are less strict, so how much an employee works is often judged by what they produce. This means things like research, training, or dealing with technical problems might not be as visible to bosses.

Remote work helps people be more efficient by cutting out commute time. This means they have more time available for work. It also helps employees have a better balance between their work and personal life.

Being more productive is also supported by a theory that says people work better when they have freedom to decide how and when to do their tasks. Remote work gives workers this freedom, which can boost how much they produce.

At least half of employers believe remote work reduces how often people are absent from work. About 56% of employees take fewer sick days. Overall, 75% of employees say they have a better work-life balance.

Staying Longer at Jobs and Being More Loyal

Remote workers are less likely to want to leave their jobs. Even if they feel a bit isolated professionally, they still tend to stay with their company.

A study in 2017 showed that companies offering remote work had a 25% lower rate of employees leaving.

Surveys found that 81% of people would be more loyal to their employers if they had flexible work options. A 2021 study showed that more than half of workers liked a hybrid work model. More than a quarter said they would think about changing jobs if their current company stopped offering remote work.

A 2021 report on employee surveys showed that before the COVID-19 pandemic, 62% of employees worked fully in the office, 30% were hybrid, and 8% were fully remote. After the pandemic, these numbers changed: 37% were fully in the office, 52% were hybrid, and 11% were remote.

More Job Opportunities

Remote work allows people to find jobs and companies to find employees, even if they are in very different locations. This means a wider range of skilled people can be hired for specific tasks.

Chance to Move

Remote workers might get the chance to move to a different city or state. This could be for new job opportunities or to live somewhere cheaper. A 2020 survey found that 2.4% of Americans, or 4.9 million people, moved that year because of remote work.

Challenges of Remote Work

Less Face-to-Face Time

The technology we have isn't quite good enough to fully copy talking to people in person at an office. This can lead to more mistakes and misunderstandings. When you talk face-to-face, you can see body language and hear tone of voice, which helps you understand things better and get immediate answers.

Remote work often uses video calls, phone calls, and emails. These can have delays or make it harder to understand emotions. This can slow down decisions. Also, communicating without everyone being online at the same time (asynchronous communication) can be harder to manage. Many people have experienced "Zoom fatigue" from too many video meetings. This can happen because of large faces on screen, constant eye contact, seeing yourself, and needing to stay still.

Talking in person helps build connections and trust between people.

In a 2012 study, 54% of remote workers felt they missed out on social interaction. 52.5% felt they missed out on professional interaction.

Remote work can sometimes hurt relationships between remote workers and their colleagues, especially if those colleagues work in the office. Office workers might feel unfairness or jealousy if they aren't allowed to work remotely. Remote workers also miss out on casual chats and office perks.

Sharing information within a company or team can be harder when working remotely. In an office, people naturally share information during coffee breaks or quick chats. When working remotely, sharing information needs more effort and planning. It can also be hard to get quick information, which might slow down decisions or lead to worse choices.

From a social point of view, remote work can make it harder for people to agree on things or understand a shared view, because they miss out on many small signals.

Feedback is important for employees to know how they are doing. It's harder to get clear and direct feedback when working remotely because electronic communication gives fewer clues. This can make it harder for remote workers to understand what is expected of them, leading to confusion or frustration. Studies show that good feedback is strongly linked to job satisfaction. When managers communicate less with remote workers, or when the quality of that communication drops, remote workers' job satisfaction can decrease.

Less Motivation

Jobs that let workers use many different skills tend to make them more motivated. If remote workers have fewer chances to work in teams or use a variety of skills, they might feel less motivated. Also, feeling socially isolated can lower motivation.

Some things that motivate people, like getting recognition or chances to move up in their career, might be less common with remote work. When remote workers aren't physically in the office, they might be "out of sight, out of mind" to others. Not being in the office can also mean less encouragement, which might stop workers from doing their best.

Distractions at Home

While offices have distractions, some argue that working remotely has even more. Studies show that children are often the biggest distraction, followed by spouses, pets, neighbors, and visitors. Not having the right tools or a proper workspace can also be a big distraction. Some countries even have inspectors check remote workers' homes to make sure the work area is suitable. Workers might also be more distracted if they feel less supervised, which could lower how much they get done.

Work-Life Balance Can Be Tricky

A study during the COVID-19 pandemic found that women with children at home felt more tired from working remotely. They also worked longer hours and found it harder to separate work from home life compared to men or women without children. Women without children often found working from home positive because they could concentrate better.

Pressure to Prove Yourself

Remote workers might feel pressure to produce more work to show they are valuable and not doing less than others. This pressure, along with less social support from colleagues and feelings of isolation, can lead to less enjoyment in their job. However, having supportive co-workers and virtual social groups can actually increase job satisfaction.

The way remote work affects job satisfaction can be complex. At first, more remote work might increase satisfaction because of the freedom it offers. But as remote work increases, less feedback and feeling less important in tasks can cause job satisfaction to level off or even drop slightly. Distrust from employers and feeling disconnected can also stop remote work from growing. Working in the office with others might help workers reach their full potential.

Harder to Build Teams

Communication and getting to know teammates happen naturally when everyone is in the same place. With remote work, employees and bosses have to work harder to keep relationships strong. This is especially important for new employees, so they can learn how the company works even when they are remote.

The variety of skills used in a job, how much of a task an employee completes, and how important they feel their work is, all affect how meaningful a job feels. If remote work focuses more on individual tasks than teamwork, there might be fewer chances to use different skills.

The U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, says that face-to-face meetings and casual interactions at work are important. They give people the feeling of belonging and being part of a team.

Isolation and Mental Health

Research shows that having regular interactions with people is very important for mental health. A study found that lonely employees feel less connected to their employers and co-workers. Isolation from remote work can also make it harder to form friendships.

While some worried that remote work would hurt careers and relationships, a 2007 study found no major negative effects on workplace relationships or career success. In fact, remote work seemed to improve relationships with supervisors. Only working remotely for more than 2.5 days a week seemed to harm relationships with co-workers, even though it helped reduce work-family conflicts.

People react differently to remote work. For example, those who really want to achieve and grow might react more positively to the freedom of remote work. But they might react more negatively to less feedback than people who don't have such a strong need for growth.

A 2021 report found that most people prefer a hybrid work model. Two out of three workers believed that in-person interactions are important for career growth. The report also found that fully remote workers felt less able to take vacations and believed they had to be available all the time. One in four workers felt isolated, which was a big challenge for them. In the end, most workers want flexibility but don't want to lose the benefits of working in person with colleagues.

Online Safety Risks

Employees need training and the right tools for remote work. Working remotely can bring cybersecurity risks. People should use good practices like antivirus software, keeping family members away from work devices, covering webcams, using a secure network (VPN), storing files in a central place, using strong passwords, and being careful about email scams.

In 2021, some U.S. states like Vermont and South Carolina were named among the safest for remote workers based on data breaches and privacy laws. A 2020 survey of over 1,000 remote workers showed that 59% felt safer working in the office than at home.

Technology Problems

Having bad equipment or technology can stop work from getting done. A survey found that 28% of remote workers had technical problems, and 26% had Wi-Fi issues.

Managers Losing Control

Sometimes, managers might not like remote work because they fear losing control over their employees. A study found that managers had a bias against employees who didn't work in the office. They often valued the time they saw an employee in the office more than the actual work they contributed.

Possible Drop in Productivity

There are different ideas about whether remote work makes people more or less productive. Some studies say it increases productivity and leads to better performance reviews. However, another study found that feeling isolated as a remote worker could lead to less job performance, especially for those who worked remotely more often and had fewer face-to-face interactions. So, how much time someone spends working remotely might affect their productivity.

Some believe there might be a drop in remote worker productivity if their home office isn't set up well. However, surveys have found that over two-thirds of employers reported that their remote workers were more productive.

Traditional managers are used to watching their employees work, rather than just looking at results. This can be a big problem for companies trying to use remote work. Rules about responsibility and workers' compensation can also become complicated. A 2008 study found that the more time spent working remotely, the less productive managers thought the remote worker was.

Jealousy at Work

Workers who don't have the option to work remotely might feel jealous of those who do. This can cause problems in the workplace.

Tax Rules Can Be Complicated

Working remotely in a different area or state than your employer can lead to complicated tax rules. Remote workers might not fully understand these rules.

How Remote Workers Are Taxed

Remote workers usually pay taxes based on where they live, where their employer is, and the specific tax laws of those places. If a remote worker lives in a different place than their employer, they might have to pay taxes in both locations.

Also, agreements between countries (tax treaties) can affect how remote workers are taxed. These treaties help avoid paying taxes twice. It's important for remote workers to understand these tax laws. They might need help from tax experts to make sure they follow all the rules.

Health Issues from Working Too Much

A 2021 report from the World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization warned that remote work could harm workers' health if it makes them work more than 55 hours a week. Working too many hours can lead to health problems, stress, anxiety, feeling isolated, more family and work stress, and too much screen time.

Other Challenges of Remote Work

Some negative things about working from home, whether for a company or as a freelancer, include:

It can be hard to separate work life from home life.
It's easy to misunderstand social cues in electronic messages.
You need to motivate yourself to get tasks done.
Workers have found that work hours are not clearly defined, and the line between home and work becomes blurry.
It's hard to understand someone's tone in an email or chat, which can lead to misunderstandings.
When working from home, employees have to inspire themselves to complete tasks. Using time management tools can help them finish assignments on time.

Images for kids

Percentage of workforce that was home-based in 2019
Most respondents to the same climate survey in 2021-2022 believe that most of us will be working from home in 20 years to help save the planet.
The United States Marine Corps began allowing remote work in 2010.
36% of Europeans interviewed by the European Investment Bank Climate Survey supported remote work to be favoured to fight climate change.