Will Work-From-Home Become the Dominant Work Model in the U.S.?

Work-from-home options are quickly becoming the most in-demand work models in America. Many blame the pandemic as the major driver in the shift to workers demanding more flexibility and work-life balance. However, it was already well in motion. According to a study by FlexJobs, the number of people working from home at least part-time has increased by 115% since 2005.

And this trend doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

New demographics; new attitudes

There are many reasons for this shift, but one of the biggest drivers is changing workforce demographics. As Millennials increasingly enter the workforce, they are starting to demand a better work-life balance than their predecessors.

They watched their parents spend their days stuck in traffic or crammed into a small office cubicle. When they entered the workforce themselves, Millenials were also met with the same anemic wage growth, job insecurity and long work demands. But now they also had ballooning student loan debt, exploding housing costs, and lived through multiple economic crashes in their young lives.

And they thought, to what end?

Massive productivity gains have done little for workers

Over the last few decades, there has been a remarkable increase in productivity across many sectors in America. Workers have become increasingly efficient and productive, leading to major gains for companies and shareholders. However, they have not benefited workers proportionally.

Thanks to stagnant real wage growth, workers have actually seen little benefit from their increased productivity. Most businesses are focused on maximizing their profits and meeting the demands of shareholders at almost all cost, rather than on increasing pay for their workers.

Millennials look at this and wonder why businesses get to hold all the power. They are now turning away from seemingly endless work for inusffient pay that sacrifices home and social lives. The pandemic only brought these worker inequalities into sharper focus.

Courtesy of NorthOne

Worker flexibility–or else

Employees are demanding more give-and-take in the employer-employee relationship. They want the flexibility to work from home when they need to take care of their kids or run errands. They want to be able to take a mental health day or leave early for a doctor’s appointment without having to call out sick.

A big part of this is retaining the work flexibility they had during the pandamic–or they walk. And they have in record numbers. In November and December of 2021 alone, 8.8 million people quit their jobs in the U.S.; more than 47 million over the entire year.

The confluence of once-in-a-century economic turmoil, changing demographics and pandemic shutdowns that accelerated Boomers leaving the workforce has, for the moment, given workers more leverage. In a tight labor market, smart companies are embracing this social wave by instituting more flexible work models that provide employees with the work-life balance they crave.

Clash of ideologies leaning toward workers

As more companies adopt these policies, it will become increasingly difficult for those who don’t to attract and retain top talent. Some, like Goldman Sachs is holding its line of demanding all workers return to the office. But on the day they reopened, half of its workers didn’t show in defiance of the order.

So while the fully remote or hybrid work models may not be perfect, they’re quickly becoming the expected, new normal for a growing portion of American workers. If your company is one of the holdouts, you might want to reconsider. The talent war for the best and brightest workers is only going to heat up and those that can offer what workers want will be the big winners.