Is Working Remotely Effective? Gallup Research Says Yes

Remote work is on the rise and employees increasingly seek it.

Since 1996, the number of companies offering remote work options has tripled. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reports that by 2016, 43% of employees spent at least part of their working hours working off-site, while 31% worked remotely from 80% to 100% of the time. Finance, insurance and real estate underwent the highest growth in remote work, Gallup reports, followed by transportation, manufacturing, construction and retail. 

“As working remotely becomes more common, companies that can’t accommodate it will become unusual. And those cultures, over time, may also struggle to keep their in-house workers engaged.”

The normalization of remote work is also changing employee expectations: More than half of office-based employees report that they would change their job if they were offered work-time flexibility elsewhere.

Remote work boosts productivity, with working off-site 60% to 80% of the time delivering the best results.

Flexible work models vary, but Gallup found that the sweet spot for remote versus office-based work is working remotely 60% to 80% of the time. Employees who work from home three to four days a week and spend one or two days in the office report the highest rates of engagement and are most likely to concur that someone in their office cares about them as an individual, they have growth and learning pathways, and they have a close friend at work.

“As decades of Gallup research shows, when employees are engaged their performance soars: Highly engaged workplaces can claim 41% lower absenteeism, 40% fewer quality defects and 21% higher profitability.”

Research demonstrates a strong correlation between high employee engagement and productivity. A company of 500 employees that lets staff members work from home three days a week can boost both productivity and engagement, with the latter translating into even higher productivity. This can result in a 15% productivity boost among highly engaged employees for a savings of $8,000 per person per year for the company.

Offering remote work options helps lower a company’s environmental footprint.

Letting people work from home has a positive impact on the environment. People who work at home produce less waste and use less electricity than their office-based counterparts. Not having to commute to work also reduces employees’ carbon footprint. In 2015, for example, introducing remote work options enabled Xerox workers to reduce the number of miles they drove by 92 million, reducing the company’s carbon footprint by 41,000 metric tons.

“As leaders uncover the business benefit of engagement, the cost savings of remote work will only pile up: Higher employee productivity, lower environmental impact, better employee branding, lower turnover – it all translates to lower costs.”

Companies can highlight the positive environmental impact of their remote work models as part of their overall environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy. In fact, the latter is becoming an increasingly important value proposition for companies. Millennials say a firm’s values – such as contributing to environmental safeguards – are an important consideration in accepting and staying at a job.

Enabling employees to work remotely boosts a company’s image, attracts talent – especially millennials – and increases retention.

Offering remote work options is a great way to attract and retain talent. More than half of US employees consider work-life balance one of their foremost criteria for taking a new job, while millennials in particular emphasize the importance of work-life integration. For women with child care responsibilities, flexible work hours can be a prerequisite for being able to take a job in the first place. Hence, at a time when the hunt for talent is fierce and employee turnover is high, allowing employees to work from home at least part-time is a smart move for companies.