The Career Consigliere

Episode 32: Realities of Virtual Work

• America's White Collar Wise Guy • Episode 32

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Virtual work, at least to some degree, has become very widespread in most corporate jobs.  But just how common is it?  Is it good?  Is it bad??  Do companies smile or frown upon it???

In this episode, we'll dive into some data that tells the whole story.  You'll learn some demographics of remote workers, and what they say are the main benefits of remote work.  You'll also hear what people have to say about it from both the employee, and employer perspective. 

Enjoy!

Article Reference:
50 Eye-Opening Remote Work Statistics for 2024

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Whaddaya hear, whaddya say?  Welcome to episode 32 of the Career Consigliere podcast: your no frills, no BS forum for navigating the corporate job scene.  We’re back with you once again for what we hope to be a highly informative and engaging half an hour, or so!  Today, we’ll be focusing on something that’s become a very hot topic in the corporate world, especially in recent years:  remote work.  If you’re listening to this show, chances are you have the kind of job where remote work is at least “remotely” possible.  You hear a lot about it today:  lots of good stuff, some bad stuff, and just a lot of buzz in general.  There’s a ton of literature on it, you hear reference to it on TV, on the radio (for those of us that still tune our dials), and, of course, on podcasts.  So, the goal for today’s episode is to help educate you on the “truth” behind remote work.  We’ll go through some of the demographics of remote workers, as well as the benefits that remote work beings.  We’ll also go through how people tend to feel about it on both sides of the equation:  from the employee, and employer perspective.  So podcast land, let’s do it!

In this episode, I’m going to quote a bunch of statistics that all come from an April 2024 article from the US Career Institute.  As always, I have the link to the full article in the episode description, so feel free to check out the full version anytime you’d like.  I will warn you, it’s a long article, and it’s very numbers heavy, but if that’s yo thang, then go for it!  A good amount of the data in this article focuses on the US too, by the way.  I know some of you listen from abroad, so you’ll want to check the numbers in your own geography for all the latest and greatest, so just be aware of that.  Also, it’s not always clear in the article what “remote work” actual refers to:  whether it’s people who are completely remote, or those that have at least SOME remote capability in their job.  The article kind of jumps around a bit, so let’s just assume that it’s the latter case.   All this aside,  I’ve picked out what I thought are the most interesting/relatable points that I thought would resonate with most of you.  So let’s go through them, and as always, I’ll offer some commentary with my own experience along the way. 

First off who are these remote workers?  Let’s start with some age demographics.  According to what we have here, 36.5% of remote workers in the US are anywhere from 25-39 years old, meaning that millennials are the most represented generation of remote workers.  The rest of the age splits go like this.  We have 29.8% of remote workers in the 40-54 year-old category, 16% in the 55-64 year-old range, and another 10.7% are 65 and up.  If you’re keeping track, you’ll notice 6.9% that’s unaccounted for:  any guesses as to who these are?  Interestingly enough, it’s people between the ages of 18 and 24.

How do you figure all this?  My take on it, from somebody that’s pretty up-to-speed on all the latest and greatest in the corporate world, is that it all makes total sense.  Anybody in the 25-39 category is on the younger side, but still has some experience under their belts.  They’re usually pretty in-the-know with the technologies and gadgets that remote work involves, so I’m not surprised at all that they make up the lion’s share of remote workers.  The 40-54 year-olds are a close second in the remote workforce.  They’re definitely more experienced, but have still spent most of their critical working years in the information age with access to computers, phones and all that good stuff.  The internet started really taking off in the mid 90s:  so you figure somebody who’s 40 years old today would have been in college in the early 2000s, and would have entered the professional workforce right as the internet and computers really became unavoidable.  It’s possible that some on the older end of the 40-54 spectrum may have worked “the old fashioned way” a bit longer, so I think it makes total sense that there is still a lot of remote work in this range, but slightly less than what you see with the millennials.  

The remote work numbers then fall off a cliff as you climb higher in age, and that speaks for itself.  It’s likely a case of, the longer you did things the old-fashioned way the less likely it is that you change as you age.  A lot of these employees just keep on keeping on out of habit and comfort:  they’re the ones that actually prefer working in the office, and continue doing so even when given the option to go remote.  I’ve seen many of them over the years, and in every case it was people over 50.  A few isolated younger folks here and there, but very heavily the older employees are the ones I saw around the office more, even in remote and hybrid environments (cowboy John story).

And then, the final point on age:  why do so few of the youngest age bracket, ages 18-24, work remotely?  Well, off the bat, most people in the corporate world are still in college from ages 18-22. Maybe they have an internship or something that allows them to work remote, but a lot of them aren’t technically “in the workforce” yet to make any meaningful impact on these numbers.  And for the 22-24 year olds that are?  I’d say it’s because they’re just starting out. Lots of times, the entry level jobs require in-person presence, are paid hourly, and aren’t set up with kinds of “perks” that allow for remote work.  Not only that, but in the early days, you need more training, more coaching, more guidance, more mentoring, etc.  You can’t fly on your own quite the way you can once you’re more experienced, so it’s not surprising at all to see that many of the rookies in the corporate world aren’t doing much remote work.

Next, let’s get into the benefits of remote work.  First off, the obvious:  commute times.  Our article here cites that remote workers in the US save an average of 55 minutes a day by not having to do a physical commute, and worldwide the average is 72 minutes a day.  Even the 72 minute figure seems low, in my opinion.  Because it’s an average of every market, big and small, rural and urban, the numbers might be a little skewed.  But I can PROMISE you they’re way higher in markets like Southern California, New York, Mexico City, Toronto, or anywhere else with insane amounts of people.  Not uncommon at all in those markets to have commute times approaching 4-5 hours a day:  I’ve been in that situation myself in the past – taking the train to/from the city, driving 2 hours each way from Long Island to Connecticut – it’s an ass kicking!  Especially in the winter time:  you leave in the morning when it’s dark, and then it’s dark again when you get home.  You don’t see the sun until Saturday, assuming it’s not snowing.  Back then, I couldn’t imagine what having almost 4 more hours of my day back would have looked like.  But it definitely sounds like our remote workers of today are very aware, and very appreciative, of not having to endure this kind of insanity.  You’re welcome, by the way:  People like me took the proverbial bullets so that you don’t have to!

Not only was time reported as a big savings, but also the expense!  Nearly 44% of remote workers report a savings on gas/commuting costs, buying food, work clothing, and other expenses you incur as a result of traveling to/from work, which could be as much as 12 grand per year!  And I can totally relate here:  when I was working in the city, I was paying almost $400/month just on train and subway fare – and that was over a decade ago!  Now?  Forget it.  Granted, lots of companies help you out with special programs pre-tax commuter benefits, but wouldn’t you rather have 4 hours of your day back AND an extra $400 in your pocket every month?  Plus, forget trying to get lunch anywhere in midtown that’s actually going to keep you sated for a few hours for under $20.   Multiply that times a few days a week, and all of a sudden that big city paycheck isn’t so big anymore.

Another interesting benefit of remote work:  38% of remote workers report spending way less time getting ready for work.  My guess here is that this helps the ladies more than the guys.  For us dudes it’s easy:  wake up, jump in the shower quick, throw on pants and a button-up, and away you go.  But the ladies have to do a lot more work with managing the fashion aspect of working in-person, which I do NOT envy in the least.  If you’re working remotely, usually what you’re wearing is irrelevant.  Okay, so maybe you spruce it up a little bit if you’re going to be on video, but you can usually do that at 9:55 for a 10am meeting and nobody knows the difference.  This pales in comparison to the alternative:  waking up an extra hour early to pick out the right outfit, fix your hair, do the makeup, all stuff that goes out the window if you’re working from home.

One more benefit of remote work that caught my eye: fewer meetings.  Now this was one of the lesser-reported benefits:  only 9.62% of those cited in the article reported this.  But from my own experience, I’m surprised this wasn’t higher.  I went through a phase where I worked remotely for a few years consecutively, then actually went BACK into the office on a hybrid split.  And I remember being ASTOUNDED at the level of noisy BS that happens when you’re physically present, after not having dealt with it for a while.  All of a sudden, there were people starting random conversations with me, asking me to come to their desk to look at stuff, the boss asking me to come to their office for no other reason than to hear some whimsical idea they had.  When you work remotely, you don’t have people at your disposal quite the way you do when you’re physically present with them.  Of course you can still call/email/message them, but now it’s an extra step:  they have to be available and receptive to your outreach, and there’s nothing stopping them from ignoring you if they’re busy, or just don’t feel like talking to you at that particular moment.  The remote environment definitely creates more of a distance to overcome.  And this is normally a good thing:  now, another person is forced to think a little harder whether they actually need to contact you for something, knowing that they might not get your attention right away.  It’s easy just to yell across the room or to take a short walk to corner someone at their desk, but being remote changes the game a bit.  So with all this, you will ABSOLUTELY wind up with less meetings if you’re working remotely, meaning you have more time to get your actual work done.  I’m very surprised more people didn’t report this.  

So now let’s explore the feelings.  How do employees FEEL about remote work?   At least according to this article, they have almost nothing bad to say.  Let’s just run through some quick numbers here:  95% say they want to have some kind of remote work capability:  in fact, 63% of THOSE people list it as THE most important aspect they look for in a job.  71% say it helps them balance their work and personal lives, which I would surmise is a big reason why remote work has become so highly sought after.  And it seems the availability of remote work opportunities has become so widespread that employees may even be starting to get a bit cocky about it:  14% have brazenly said that they refuse to go back to working on site, even if their employers required it.  Just goes to show you:  if one company isn’t going to stay with the times and offer this kind of flexibility, employees know someone else will, and they’re willing to bounce and pursue greener pastures.

And here’s another interesting one: many remote workers report feeing that their lack of physical presence has no impact on their chances of “getting ahead” in their jobs.  The article goes into a little more depth, but it was basically a split 50 between those who felt remote work DOES hurt your potential, versus those who DIDN’T think so.  This one’s going to vary a lot depending on the culture of the company.  You do still have those employers, usually ones that are more established and have more seasoned people working there, that have the old-school mindset of presence = productivity.  And yes, in an environment like that, where leadership values seeing your face, then you’d absolutely be hurting your chances of growth and advancement by pushing for remote work.  But, on the flipside, if the company is more progressive and following the latest trends with remote, or at least hybrid work, then it really shouldn’t matter. Whether or not you need to be in-person for certain things becomes a judgement call at that point, and most companies will trust you to do the right thing when the time comes.  So whether or not working remotely will impact your career prospects just depends on the company:  it really just comes down to being in touch with the climate of your organization.

So, finally, let’s talk about how employers feel about remote work.    Here’s a breakdown of the percentage of US employers that offer remote work in a given week.  5 days – 21.7 %.  4 days – 5.6%   3 days – 12.8%   2 days – 16.1%   1 day – 11%   0 days – 32.8%.  So, based on that, we know that just over a third offer no remote capabilities at all.  We’d have to really slice and dice and play games with the math to look at this from all different angles.  However, based on the numbers, we can see that more employers ARE offering at least some remote capabilities, compared to those that are NOT.  I’m sure that third of employers has their reasons, but the numbers here clearly spell out the fact that the world of work is moving towards at least SOME modicum of remote work capability.  

And here’s where the sky gets even brighter.  79% of managers feel their team is more productive when working remotely.  Furthermore, 56% of hiring managers believe that working remotely has gone better than expected.  Finally, 64% of hybrid workers feel that their managers trust them when they work from home.  And get this:  that same trust figure jumps up to 79% when focusing on fully remote employees.  To me, it seems like a matter of association.  If an employee is always remote, then that’s all their manager knows, so like it or not they’d have to trust them.  If someone is hybrid, the manager has to comply with the company’s remote work policy, but likely still has a preference to how often they’d like their employees to be physically present with them.  I know from my experience, sometimes it made sense to be in the office more, and sometimes it made more sense to work remote.  This would depend on what our team was working on, what kinds of activities were involved, whether we needed quiet space, whether we needed hands-on collaboration space, SO many factors.  I say this to point out that there can be a lot of volatility in the status quo when it comes to hybrid work, and much of it will be very circumstantial and depend on what’s happening at a given point in time.  Regardless, 64% is still a pretty high trust rating for hybrid employees, but due to the volatility involved, I can see why it might be a bit lower than trust for employees who are always remote.

We covered lots of stats on remote work today.  So what does all this add up to?  What might it mean for you the listener?  Let’s sum it up with today’s……..Consigliere curtain call.  In general, I think we can all agree that the corporate world is slowly but surely moving towards remote work capabilities.  I think it has to do with a large percentage of the workforce being technologically apt:  the numbers we reviewed earlier suggest that those who have been exposed to remote work-friendly technologies for a longer time are the ones that are more likely to be doing it today.  And as the more seasoned folks eventually age out of the workforce, I think we’ll continue seeing a steady rise in remote work over the next decade.

We also heard about a ton of benefits involved.  The cost savings, the time savings, and how remote work streamlines everything and just seems to take a lot of moving parts out of the workday.  It also seems to allow workers to get more out of a given day, with less meetings and random BS popping up, allowing that time to instead be used to get things done.  From what we saw here, workers in the corporate world overwhelmingly seem to like remote work, and those in favor of it seem to be growing in number.  We still have some employers out there that are resistant to it for one reason or another (maybe it’s warranted, maybe it’s just inertia), but the trends we’re seeing here suggest that it's going to be harder and harder for employers to say no on this as time goes on.  Yes, you’ll always have the kinds of jobs that simply cannot be done remotely, but in the corporate world it’s going to be a harder and harder case for employers to make.

With all this in mind, my words of wisdom for the consigliere faithful are simply to stay in touch with what’s important to you when it comes to remote work.  If you’re in favor of it, then look for opportunities to capitalize on it.  Remember, any employer who isn’t offering remote capabilities (when possible), is getting more and more out of touch with where the world of work is headed, and the numbers we covered today prove that.  Keep this in mind as you navigate your career, and seek new opportunities out there on the job market. 

Sadly folks, that’s all the time we have for today.  But have no fears, and shed no tears, because I’ll be back with a new episode very soon.  As they say in the industry:  no listeners, no show, so do me a favor, and stay loyal!  If you find value in my content, please leave me a nice review, tell all your friends, and don’t forget to like, subscribe, and follow on whatever platform you use to get your podcasts.   Beyond the confines of your headphones, speakers, TV screen, or any other crazy contraption with the ability to stream audio, I also provide one-on-one career assistance, so visit my website at career-consigliere.net to learn more about me, book me for a private consult, join my email list, or explore some of the other career services I offer.  And to all of you out there in podcast land, remember this:  Who’s the boss in your career?  You, nobody else.