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If you have a nagging feeling that your job could be remote, you aren’t alone. According to this 2022 survey by Gallup, over 70 million American employees qualify as “remote-capable” while still working partially or fully in a traditional office setting.
Naturally, many organizations are incapable of providing remote or hybrid options. For those that can, however, the survey draws some particularly grim conclusions, including possible insight into the sharp spike in post-COVID employee burnout rates.
“Approximately 56% of full-time employees in the U.S. — more than 70 million workers — say their job can be done working remotely from home.”
Gallup explains, adding that of that population, 50% are working in a hybrid model, 30% are actually working remotely, and the remaining 20% are fully office-bound.
But while the number of hybrid work options has actually increased this year – and, per Gallup’s estimations, should continue to climb to comprise an additional 5% of remote-capable employees in the coming years – work-from-home options are expected to decrease even further as time passes.
Unfortunately, this dearth of understanding between employees and employers has consequences, often to the detriment of the employers. Gallup finds that when remote-capable employees are unable to capitalize on their preferred workspace, their productivity suffers and burnout potential increases dramatically.
This translates to a real-world result that should alarm employers of remote-capable employees. Gallup’s findings include that “six in 10 exclusively remote employees are ‘extremely likely to change companies’ if not offered remote flexibility,” and 30% of hybrid employees echo this sentiment.
Put simply, employees who became comfortable working from home or in a hybrid atmosphere during the COVID-19 lockdown are reluctant to return to a less-comfortable environment, putting them at odds with employers who are often rushing to reinstate a form of normalcy that may not fit their employee population – or the world at large – anymore.
Moving forward, it’s clear that employers who can offer work-from-home options – or, at the very least, a hybrid model with strong remote allowances – should endeavor to do so by any means necessary; failing to do so could very well result in a diminished workforce brought on by a high rate of employee burnout.
