During the Covid pandemic, many of us were required to work from home. Some individuals had already been working remotely, but for many, Covid became the catalyst that allowed them to request remote work arrangements.

Working from home has its advantages and disadvantages. Challenges such as loneliness, increased indoor time, and reduced opportunities for face-to-face collaboration are among the issues faced by those working from home permanently. However, for many, remote work offers the benefit of time saved on commuting and reduced travel expenses.

In order to understand the latest data on working from home in 2023, we conducted a survey of 2,019 people in the UK, analysed Google search data for remote job searches in the UK and USA, and reviewed global studies conducted by other researchers. The result is our comprehensive report on work-from-home statistics in 2023.

Looking for the key facts? Here are the most important work-from-home statistics for 2023. For more details and context, please refer to the full report.

1. One in five people have a job where the potential to work from home doesn't apply, such as roles that require being in a specific location, like restaurant work.
2. Among those with jobs where remote work is feasible, 27% prefer to work exclusively from home.
3. Only 17% of individuals with jobs that can be done from anywhere express a desire to work exclusively in an office.
4. The most popular choice is hybrid working, with slightly over half of the respondents (approximately 52%) opting for a combination of office and remote work.
5. Younger people (aged 16 to 24) are the least likely to choose exclusive remote work, with less than one in five selecting this option.
6. Individuals aged 55 and over are the most likely to prefer exclusive remote work, with almost a third expressing this preference.
7. The majority of respondents aged 16 to 45 prefer hybrid working, splitting their time between home and the office.
8. Over 60% of the youngest workers (aged 16 to 24) prefer hybrid working.

To determine people's preferences for working from home, the office, or a combination of both, we surveyed 2,109 people in June 2023.

We asked them:

"If you had the choice, ideally, where would you like to work from?"

We acknowledge that some roles do not accommodate remote working, such as positions in the hospitality industry or teaching roles that require being physically present in a school. Therefore, we provided respondents with the option to indicate that remote work doesn't apply to their roles.

A total of 19.51% of people (394 respondents out of 2,109) indicated that the option of choosing a working location doesn't apply to their roles.

We removed these respondents from our dataset to focus on those for whom the option does apply. Among the remaining 1,625 respondents, we obtained the following results:

We found the following statistics:

• Just over a quarter of people (approximately 27%) expressed a preference for working exclusively from home.
• Less than 1 in 5 people (fewer than 20%) indicated a desire to work exclusively in an office.
• Over half of the respondents (approximately 50% or more) chose some form of hybrid working, which involved splitting their workweek between the office and home. This could include an equal split between both locations or a preference for one location over the other.

We delved into the data in a bit more detail to take a look at variations in responses from different demographic groups when it comes to working exclusively from home.

Of course, work from home has its appeal. Not commuting saves time and money, for example. But some may also find it isolating. And while some people thrive in productivity terms while working remotely, others find they get more done in an office environment.

So, who are 27% of people who want to work remotely or at home exclusively?

There are noticeable variations between age groups in their preferences.

Among those aged 16 to 24, less than 1 in 5 (approximately 19.76%) would choose to work exclusively from home.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, 32.9% of individuals aged 55 and over, expressed a preference for exclusive remote work.

However, it is important to note that no age group has a majority wishing to work exclusively from home or remotely.

Additionally, we observed some differences in the desire to work exclusively from home between men and women.

Women are more likely than men to express a desire to work from home or remotely.

A potential hypothesis for this trend is that women generally bear more responsibilities related to tasks such as childcare, making the flexibility of remote work highly important to them.

Age significantly influences people's preferences for their work location, and to a lesser extent, gender also plays a role. However, one unexpected finding was the variation in responses based on the region where individuals reside. The proportion of people who preferred exclusive remote work varied widely across different regions of the UK, ranging from a low of 23.14% in Greater London to a high of 33.6% in the South West.

We also examined the breakdown of respondents based on the sector in which they work. Here is the sector breakdown we analysed:

Well, the answer is a resounding no.

Only 17% of respondents, overall, indicated a desire to work exclusively from an office or work premises.

We observed some variation in this aspect based on age as well, although perhaps not to the same extent as the preference for exclusive remote work.

Ultimately, individuals under the age of 45 are the least inclined to work exclusively from an office, while those aged 55 and older are the most likely to prefer this option. However, it is worth noting that overall, exclusive office work is not a popular choice among respondents.   We observed minimal variation based on gender in this regard, but regional differences clearly influenced preferences.

In the North East, over 1 in 5 individuals would opt for exclusive office or work premises work. On the other hand, in London, only 14.9% of respondents would choose this option, representing the lowest proportion among the regions analysed.

There were significant variations in responses across different sectors.

In the legal sector, only 7.41% of respondents indicated a preference for exclusive office work. 

On the other hand, in the travel sector, 34.85% expressed a desire for this option. The variances across sectors are substantial.

It is evident that people generally do not want to work exclusively from home or exclusively from an office.

We presented three different hybrid options:

1. I'd like to spend most of my week remote/at home but a day or two in the office/workplace.
2. I'd like to spend most of my week in the office/workplace but a day or two a week remote/at home.
3. I'd like to split my week half remote and half in the office.

Slightly over half of the respondents chose one of these three hybrid options.

There is a relatively balanced distribution among the three options overall.

Among respondents, 18.03% expressed a preference for spending most of their week remote/at home but a day or two in the office/workplace. 14.95% indicated a desire to spend most of their week in the office/workplace but a day or two a week remote/at home. Additionally, 17.66% stated that they would like to split their week half remote and half in the office.

However, we did observe variations by age once again in these preferences.

The statistics reveal a significant challenge for companies that do not offer remote working, as over 60% of individuals aged 16 to 34 prefer hybrid working. Attracting talent from this age group becomes increasingly difficult without this flexibility.

In general, our statistics indicate that the younger the age group, the higher the preference for hybrid working. Surprisingly, even among individuals aged 55 and older, more than a third (37.63%) would opt for this working arrangement, combining the benefits of remote work with the collaborative and social environment of a physical workplace.

While there was less variation observed across regions, we still noted some differences across sectors.

In all sectors, at least 40% of people express a desire for some form of hybrid working. However, this percentage rises to 67.5% in HR and 66.67% in the legal sector.

This clearly indicates that industries reliant on attracting talent may need to provide location flexibility to employees.

Given the strong preference for flexibility in working location, it comes as no surprise that the search volume for remote or work-from-home jobs has experienced a significant global increase. Using kwfinder.com, we analysed the search volumes on Google for the following queries:

• Remote working jobs
• Hybrid working jobs
• Work from home jobs

We examined the search numbers for 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 globally, as well as specifically in the USA, Canada, UK, and Australia.

In 2022, there were over 17.2 million global searches for the combined queries related to remote working, which is more than double the figure of 8.2 million in 2019. Among these searches, 8.6 million originated from the USA, while 1.8 million were from the UK.

It is important to note that these queries did not specify a particular job role or industry. This means that for millions of individuals worldwide, the primary criterion in their job search is finding a remote or work-from-home opportunity, regardless of the specific nature of the role.

We also analysed searches for various types of remote jobs across different industries. You can find more details about the specific queries we examined in the methodology section at the end of this article. Here are the findings of our analysis:

There has been an extraordinary surge in search volume for remote jobs across various industries since 2016. While we observed significant increases during the COVID-19 pandemic, the upward trend has continued even after the pandemic subsided. In other words, the experience of working from home during the pandemic seems to have contributed to a lasting change in people's preferences for how they want to work. Here are some notable increases in search volume between 2019 (pre-COVID) and 2022:

• Remote customer service jobs saw a staggering 722% increase in searches on Google, surpassing one million.
• Searches for remote teaching jobs in 2022 were 543% higher compared to 2019, and a remarkable 1,548% higher than in 2016.
• There was a remarkable 969% increase in searches for remote marketing jobs in 2022 compared to 2016.

These numbers highlight the substantial growth in demand for remote work across all of our top 10 sectors within a span of just six years, based on Google search data.

As of June 2023, there are over 271,000 job listings on Jooble that include the term “work from home.”

Additionally, there are 693,500 job listings that mention “hybrid working.”

On Indeed, there are 31,930 job listings in the UK that have "work from home" in the title or description.

By looking at Indeed's suggested search options, we can gain insights into the types of work-from-home searches that users are making on the platform:

Every month in the USA, Stanford University releases figures on work from home.

Their latest data suggests that:

• 11.9% of full-time employees work fully from home.
• 29.4% have a hybrid working arrangement.
• 58.8% work fully on-site.

The research also reveals that 29% of workers in the USA desire full-time remote work, similar to the findings in our UK survey. However, only 11.9% actually have the opportunity.

Furthermore, while 58.8% of employees currently work exclusively on-site, only 34.1% expressed a preference for a five-day on-site workweek.

This indicates a discrepancy between employee preferences and the current work arrangements being offered.

Abundant data supports the notion that most people do not want to be in the office or workplace full-time. However, they recognise the value of at least some in-person office time. Therefore, hybrid working offers a flexible solution that combines the convenience of remote work with the collaborative and social benefits of an office environment.

Given the strong preference for hybrid work among the youngest members of the workforce, it is expected that offering some form of flexibility will become almost essential for employers who want to attract and retain employees in the future.

To gather survey data for our remote working statistics research, we collaborated with market research specialists, Censuswide. They are experts in market research and adhere to ESOMAR principles to ensure survey accuracy. The survey involved 2,019 demographically representative participants aged 16 and above in the UK.

The raw data is available on request by emailing: irina@boundlesshq.com

For our keyword research we used kwfinder.com. 

In the "Demand for Remote Jobs" section, we combined the search volumes of three generic terms: "Remote Working Jobs," "Hybrid Working Jobs," and "Work from Home Jobs." We selected roles from industry sections where remote work would likely be in demand. Subsequently, we used kwfinder.com to obtain search volumes for each role and aggregated them. 

The keywords used were:

• "Remote" + [role] + "jobs"
• "Work from home" + [role] + "jobs"
• "Hybrid" + [role] + "jobs"

From an initial list of approximately 60 roles, we ranked them based on the total number of searches in 2022 to identify our top 10 list, as outlined in this section.