Tag: remote work statitstics

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Work from Home Naked Pants are Optional

We have exited the traditional workplace, retreated to our homes to carry out our functions for society, and are free to work from home naked, pants are optional, as our state of dress would not be noticed from the waist down, even while conducting or participating in a live videoconference.

Reportedly, 11% of all remote workers work from home naked occasionally while off-camera, while 40% work in comfortable and relaxed clothing, which may include pajamas, or only dressed on the top-half that can be seen on camera (ergo, pants are optional).

This exemplifies how comfortable we as telecommuters are getting with this whole remote-work-thing and learning to truly relax, while still getting the important sh*t (work-related-stuff) done.

How Relaxed Are Telecommuters Getting?

That’s a good question. If 11% of teleworkers are working in the nude (up to 30% of some more progressive organizations), and almost half of them are working in their PJs, how much more relaxed could this new age of remote workers get while working from home?

This is a concern for employers who would like to see their employees less distracted from achieving the goals of the organization while working from home.

So, what exactly is going on while teleworkers are on-the-clock and off-screen?

I had hoped you would not ask that.

Of course, we cannot know everything that goes on behind closed doors, whether it is taking place at the office or at home, but even more so while working from home. But we do know some things, like

90% are drinking (alcohol) on the job

48% are in their pajamas

36% are taking naps during the workday

27% are gardening, working on the deck, in the yard, or on the balcony

23% are watching Netflix

11% are working naked

Telecommuters are testing the boundaries, especially during a time when they had not anticipated being forced to work from home under the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is understandable if these teleworkers might be going a little stir crazy and testing the boundaries while under lockdown.

On the other hand, productivity is up. It’s one thing to be reckless, disrespectful, and falling behind on the performance of your job duties, but even buck naked, productivity is up. So, what’s the big deal?

Granted, watching Netflix at work would be inappropriate, but if remote workers can binge-watch TV shows and get their work done at the same time? Where is the harm in that?

How does high productivity happen? It is the result of performing specific duties in an attitude of joy, not out of duty. Focus on the results, and not whether your employee is working clothing-optional, as long as he looks like he’s dressed for the videoconference call from the waist up, it is all good, even if pants are optional.

Lighten up. The statistics are on your side. Enjoy the increased productivity of your employees as they take advantage of all the freedom and flexibility they can during these unprecedented times, it will take all of us time to acclimatize to the new normal, and things will get better.

If productivity starts to falter, then take notice and action, but until then, there is no harm in allowing your employees to find ways to thrive when the going gets tough.

 

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What Do We Do with Billions of Hours of Free Time?

With millions of Americans transitioning to telecommuting, working from home, and employers moving jobs online, this is creating a huge amount of extraneous free time for employees to enjoy that they did not have before March 2020.

Billions of hours previously spent having to report to a campus to work and having to manage performance away from home all reclaimed by converted remote workers.

It makes you wonder,

What do we do with billions of hours of free time?

Every teleworker whose position mutated into working from home has gained an extra 54 minutes a day on average.

If you are the lucky recipient of an extra hour a day, what do you think you would do? Would you sleep in an extra hour? You might be surprised to discover what reality is in terms of all those benefits of remote work.

What do you do with your extra 54 minutes per day?

“Rather than enhancing true flexibility in when and where employees work,” write the authors of a new study, “the capacity to work from home mostly extends the workday and encroaches into what was formerly home and family time.”

19 Minutes Working More

It turns out that if you have converted to telecommuting for work, you are spending 19 minutes of your free time bounty in additional work hours for your employer. This could be for a variety of reasons. You could be working more and not noticing it because you are more comfortable in your home working environment. Or you might be working more on purpose to increase your performance for job security. Whatever the case, you are doing it.

4 Minutes on Side Projects

You are using four minutes a day on average working on side projects, which could include, continuing education, researching career expansion, or generating additional income.

13.5 Minutes on Chores

Whether for concern or comfort, you are working on household chores, like laundry, vacuuming, cooking, doing dishes, or other duties around the house.

17 Minutes Leisure Activities

This nets most remote workers seventeen minutes for leisure activities and/or exercise every day. Probably a lot less than you expected.

10 Minutes with Children

In average, work from home parents sacrifice ten of those minutes each day that would otherwise be able to be utilized as leisure time, focusing on spending quality time with their children, leaving parents with a net of seven minutes a day of free time.

Spending $27 per Week More

And all that extra money you are saving while working from Home? It could leave you scratching your head at the end of the month, wondering where all the fruits of your labor is going, because, “I Should Have More Money Working from Home.” And it turns out that you are actually spending $27 per week more than you did when you weren’t telecommuting.

It’s no wonder that you are thinking about needing an additional income source.

8% Moonlighting

Eight percent of all employees who have transitioned to working from home are actively engaged in or pursuing second income opportunities.

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Pandemic Remote Work Statistics Not Good

No doubt many telecommuters are thriving during the pandemic. For the most part these are upper-income office workers whose jobs easily transitioned from the office environment to successfully working from home as they continue to enjoy all the benefits from doing so.

For the rest of the world, things are not looking as optimistic. There are rising rates of domestic violence, depression, suicidal ideation, and mental health services are hard-pressed to meet the growing demand for both remote workers and the increasingly unemployed Americans who are tasked with having to manage work (or lack of work) and surviving during unprecedented times.

Research is ongoing, as we try to get a handle on what we are up against as we all are trying to do our best under such challenging conditions.

As the statistics continue to come in, one research firm (The Martec Group) has provided results of a groups study that confirms, even among those who are telecommuting and working from home, there is growing cause for concern.

According to statistics

32% Pissed Off

The largest segment of teleworking employees (32%) report that they are hugely in opposition of the current work at home conditions. They don’t like working at home, and they think that their employers are not doing a very good job at making adequate arraignments not offering the support necessary to ensure a successful telecommuting environment.

27% Disgruntled

Then there are the employees that also do not like working at home, but they are not blaming their employers at all. As awkward and uncomfortable as it might be, they are of the mind that their employers are doing the best they can with what they have. These account for 27% of the group.

It is disconcerting, that the larger part of the group (59%) is not enjoying the remote working scenario whatsoever. And who would blame them? Who likes being forced to do anything that is outside their comfort zone? (No matter how you try to explain how fortunate they are to have a job.)

Then there are the employees who don’t hate working from home, are not crazy about it and wished they didn’t have to do it, but also think that their employers will come out of the pandemic in good shape (25%), and they believe they will be able to return to work under more normal conditions after the restrictions are lifted.

16% Love It

If you believe the media, you will think the largest segment of the pandemic telecommuters would be those who are enthusiastically celebrating their new life and freedom associated with working from home. But it turns out that only 16% are thriving as the result of working from home, and if given the opportunity to continue to do so would jump at the chance, even if it meant taking a slight pay cut.

84% Do Not Want to Work from Home

It is interesting to note the majority (84%) of these employees are not happy. Not only are they not happy, but they do not want to be working from home.

72% Growing Mental Health Concerns

They feel like they are being forced to work under undesirable conditions, and 72% of them reported growing mental health concerns.

I think we could do better.

 

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2020 Telecommute Statistics Jobs Online Skyrocketing

There is no doubt if we learned anything in 2020, it was how to increase the number of teleworkers thanks to the coronavirus. 2020 telecommute statistics jobs online skyrocketing and final numbers are yet to come. The resulting lockdown in the USA forced many workers to telecommute and move their job online to keep our country’s economy afloat during the COVID 19 pandemic.

Statistics show a general growth in telecommuting and working from home in the 2000s, from 2001 to 2019, then a huge spike in telecommuters in 2020 thanks to the United States’ response to keep it moving through the lockdown, boasting nearly 80 million workers telecommuting and continuing to raise daily.

Those in non-essential job positions who were able to convert their jobs to telecommuting, working remotely, or from home, they were able to keep their positions and thrive, while others were forced to accept federally-enhanced unemployment compensation while under “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” restrictions.

While these changes in workstyles are considered temporary while those who previously worked in an office or cubicle are now working from home, there is a growing trend that is seeing employers re-evaluating their overhead costs.

Employee productivity is up, and costs to run businesses, organizations, and government agencies have dropped tremendously, as more workers are able to move their jobs online.

There is a good chance that if you are currently working from home that this may not be as temporary as you might have thought. Employers all over our nation are rethinking and reimagining the way businesses and organizations will be run in the future, and you are looking at a significant test run in action right now.

The future will see telecommuting jobs (office workers working from home full or part-time) turning into remote work. You might think that telecommuting and remote-working are one and the same. While they are similar, the main distinction is that a telecommuting job assumes that there is some commuting done to and from work, where the commute has been replaced by working via the Internet or teleconferencing.

Remote work represents the type of job that may be conducted disconnected from any commute to and from the workplace. As such, a worker working from a remote office area or home may well be outside the geographical region where the employer is physically located.

Remote is far more highly sought after by employers because there is little or no physical space requirements which are a drain on overhead costs to accommodate employees at the workplace.

That said, not all teleworkers or remote workers work from home. Many choose to work from Internet cafes, coworking spaces, virtual offices, coffee shops, or other remote location(s) which may include any location where a laptop can be powered or charged, and a connection to the Internet is available.

Of course, there are many jobs that cannot be translated into online positions, but for those who can, this is the growing trend.

And if you are one of the one’s who has found himself or herself in a position to telecommute “temporarily” due to the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent lockdown, don’t be surprised when the restrictions are lifted that you discover that all (or nearly all) of your commute has been eliminated.

Employers are already looking for ways to exit their lease contracts, as they are finding that telecommuting and transitioning to jobs online is a far better and more cost-effective way to conduct their affairs.

Telecommuting and jobs online are the new normal.