Growth Of Remote Working And Virtual Hiring

Traditional hiring has lost its charm amid the Covid-19 pandemic. With the sudden turbulent move, companies have shifted their hiring strategies and adopted new ways of attracting and onboarding talent.

As millions of employees are working from home/ remotely, the work landscape has changed dramatically. The massive transformation to remote work during the pandemic raised the need for virtual recruitment and onboarding.

Here are some intriguing remote work and virtual hiring stats amid and post-pandemic.

– Remote Work Is Good for Business

Research shows that businesses lose $600 billion a year to workplace distractions and that remote workers are 35-40% more productive than their in-office counterparts.

Among performance-based remote work statistics in 2020, 94% of surveyed employers report that company productivity has been the same (67%) or higher (27%) since employees started working from home during the pandemic.

More than 2,100 people who worked remotely during the pandemic found that 51% report being more productive working from home, and 95% say productivity has been higher or the same while working remotely.

While there are many reasons why performance has improved (in spite of the stresses of the pandemic), some of the top reasons respondents gave for their increased productivity include:

Fewer interruptions (68%)
More focused time (63%)
Quieter work environment (68%)
More comfortable workplace (66%)
Avoiding office politics (55%)

According to data collected through March 2021, nearly six out of 10 workers reported being more productive than they expected throughout the pandemic. On average, respondents’ productivity at home was 7% higher than they expected, and 40% of workers reported they were more productive at home during the pandemic than they had been when in the office.

Researchers hypothesize that continued remote work could increase overall worker productivity in the U.S. by 5% compared with the pre-pandemic economy.

– Remote Work Leads to Better Mental Health

For better or for worse, the work environment has a direct impact on mental and emotional health. The 10th Annual Survey found that 70% of respondents said a permanent remote job would have a considerable improvement or positive impact on their mental health. Additionally, nearly one in five (18%) said one of the biggest mistakes their company made during the pandemic was not offering mental health support.

In a survey with Mental Health America, found that respondents with flexible work options (including remote work) report better mental health. In fact, employees without access to flexible work are nearly two times more likely to have poor or very poor mental health.

Of those who have flexible work options, 48% say their work-life balance is excellent or very good, and 54% have the emotional support they need at work, compared to 36% and 45%, respectively, for respondents without flexible work.

The same survey found that more than three-quarters (76%) of respondents agree workplace stress affects their mental health, leading to depression or anxiety, and 17% strongly agree.

For 56%, having flexibility in their workday is overwhelmingly listed as the top way workplaces can better support employees. Encouraging time off and offering mental health days were tied for second and third at 43%, and 28% felt that increased PTO and better health insurance were the next best ways companies can provide support moving forward.

– Remote Workers Save Money

From skipping lunch out to not having to dry clean work clothes, remote workers save money. estimates that people who work from home save, on average, $4,000 a year.

Respondents March-April 2021 survey ranked “cost savings” as the number two benefit of remote work (75%), second only to not having a commute (84%). Additionally, 38% estimate that they are saving at least $5,000 a year working remotely, while one out of five estimates that they save more than $200 per week, or $10,000 a year.

– Remote Work Is Environmentally-Friendly

One silver lining of the pandemic is that it necessitated human behavioral changes that have led to slowed deforestation rates, reduced air pollution, and improved water quality worldwide.

This positive environmental impact is due, in part, to the millions of people who transitioned to working from home, thereby reducing traffic congestion and air pollution from commuting.

For example, it’s estimated that when 3.9 million employees work from home at least half time, they reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of taking more than 600,000 cars off the road for an entire year. According to one estimate, nearly 36.2 million Americans could be working remotely by 2025, reducing commuter miles by 70 to 140 billion every year.

And by making environmentally sound choices—like opting to use less paper and monitoring air-conditioning, heating, and lighting—remote workers have the same potential impact on air quality as planting an entire forest of 91 million trees.

– Remote Work Is More Favorable in Certain Areas

According to research by WalletHub, not all states are considered equal when it comes to working from home, with some having more favorable remote conditions than others.

Based on 12 metrics, Delaware, North Carolina, Georgia, New Hampshire, and Tennessee came out on top. Some of the data points that helped determine which states were most suited to remote work include: