Health and Healthcare Systems

COVID-19: Most American workers want to keep working from home

The 77 story One Vanderbilt office tower, the latest super-tall skyscraper to grace New York's iconic skyline, is set to open while the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) keeps the largest and richest U.S. office market almost empty, in midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S., September 9, 2020. Picture taken September 9, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Segar REFILE - CORRECTING NUMBER OF STORIES - RC2AYI9REGHH

Americans have adapted well to home working and most want the work style to stay post-pandemic. Image: Reuters/Mike Segar

Howard Schneider
Federal Reserve Correspondent, Reuters
Share:
Our Impact
What's the World Economic Forum doing to accelerate action on Health and Healthcare Systems?
The Big Picture
Explore and monitor how Future of Work is affecting economies, industries and global issues
A hand holding a looking glass by a lake
Crowdsource Innovation
Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale
Stay up to date:

Future of Work

  • A Pew poll of 5,800 working adults in mid-October found that the transition to home working had been easy for most.
  • Now with a COVID-19 vaccine on the horizon, many employees would prefer not to return to the office.
  • Nearly half of workers said the flexibility to stay at home two to three days a week was worth up to 15% of their pay.
  • Companies will need to decide whether to recall their employees post-vaccine, allow them to work from home or introduce a hybrid arrangement.

Zoom fatigue? Isolation from colleagues? A craving for lamb shawarma from the downtown food truck?

Nah.

Months into a pandemic that has changed work-life balance into a work-life M.C. Escher drawing - with the end of one and the beginning of the other now indistinguishable - Americans say they’ve actually adapted fine to home offices and dining room table workstations, and most want to continue working from home after the pandemic.

The 77 story One Vanderbilt office tower, the latest super-tall skyscraper to grace New York's iconic skyline, is set to open while the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) keeps the largest and richest U.S. office market almost empty, in midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S., September 9, 2020. Picture taken September 9, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Segar REFILE - CORRECTING NUMBER OF STORIES - RC2AYI9SMJW4
Many employees would prefer to stay working at home after a COVID-19 vaccine. Image: REUTERS/Mike Segar REFILE

That’s the finding of new surveys published by the Pew Research Center and the University of Chicago’s Becker Friedman Institute with potentially ominous implications for pre-COVID-19 business district micro-economies that had thrived on throngs of office workers going to weekly happy hours or dropping off their dry cleaning a block from work.

The Pew poll of 5,800 working adults in mid-October found that the transition has been easy for most. It allowed them to remain productive, and, on balance, has given people more control over how they use their time - counter to the conventional-wisdom impression of home offices as a maze of tech problems and family distractions.

The work from home transition
The majority of workers found the transition somewhat or very easy. Image: Pew Research Center

Not everyone is thrilled, of course. More younger workers reported trouble staying motivated, and parents found it more difficult to work without interruption.

But “while not seamless, the transition to telework has been relatively easy for many employed adults,” Pew found in its survey.

The fact that people not only like but seem to function well at their jobs in a home-based setting, “may portend a significant shift in the way a large segment of the workforce operates in the future,” Pew researchers Kim Parker, Juliana Horowitz and Rachel Minkin wrote.

The rollout of a vaccine in coming months will force companies nationwide to decide whether to keep leasing office space, let people work where they choose, or move to some hybrid arrangement.

It will also start answering the long list of questions about whether the changes in behavior sparked by the pandemic prove permanent, or fade once the risk of being out in public has eased.

'Shirking from home' here to stay

The study published by the Becker Friedman Institute also concluded that work from home “will likely stick,” and estimated perhaps 22% of all work days will be “supplied from home” after the pandemic.

That’s a major shift, with implications down the line for office building owners as well as the corner cafe. Authors Nick Bloom of Stanford University, Steven Davis of the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, and Jose Barrero of Mexico’s Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo, said the pandemic’s “mass social experiment” will cut spending in major city centers as much as 10% on a permanent basis.

Why permanent?

The stigma of “shirking from home” has disappeared, the technology has improved quickly, and companies and employees have adapted, the research concluded. Firms have changed their tech infrastructure to accommodate, and the average worker, the study found, has spent about $660 outfitting their home set up.

Large majorities in their survey of 15,000 people, collected between May and October, said they were at least as productive working from home, if not more so, than they were in their office, and would like to keep working from home at least two days a week in the future.

Long office lunches or kitchens and kids?
Workers were found to been more efficient and productive working from home. Image: Becker Friedman Institute for Economics at the University of Chicago

The dollar value of that is significant. Nearly half of workers said the flexibility to stay at home two to three days a week was worth up to 15% of their pay.

What's work from home worth?
Working from home 2-3 days a week is as valuable as getting a raise. Image: Becker Friedman Institute for Economics at the University of Chicago

The two studies shared other common conclusions, including the fact that the benefits of working from home aren’t universally shared.

It is, the University of Chicago group found, “a perk, but men, higher earners and highly educated workers will disproportionately get to enjoy it.”

Work from home by income
Work from home is less prominent for those in low-wage jobs. Image: Pew Research Center
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

Sign up for free

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Related topics:
Health and Healthcare SystemsJobs and the Future of Work
Share:
World Economic Forum logo
Global Agenda

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

Short-sightedness is on the rise - including among kids. Here's what can be done

Ewan Thomson and Madeleine North

October 7, 2024

About us

Engage with us

  • Sign in
  • Partner with us
  • Become a member
  • Sign up for our press releases
  • Subscribe to our newsletters
  • Contact us

Quick links

Language editions

Privacy Policy & Terms of Service

Sitemap

© 2024 World Economic Forum