It鈥檚 now almost five years since the COVID-19 pandemic suddenly thrust remote work into the mainstream in March 2020. Working from home that year and Zoom鈥檚 stock price .
While the adoption of remote work was initially a crisis response, employees eventually came to prefer the flexibility and work-life balance of working remotely, not to mention the hours saved from stressful commutes. Many organizations have now settled into a hybrid setup with a mix of in-office and work-from-home days. Meanwhile, the ongoing mandates shows that things are still in flux.
So, what鈥檚 the status of remote work in 2025? Let鈥檚 delve into the key insights and emerging trends.
Remote work: Key insights and stats
According to , half of full-time U.S. workers hold jobs that can be performed remotely. Among those with remote-capable jobs, 27% are fully remote, 53% have a hybrid schedule, and 21% work on-site. The survey also found that fully remote and hybrid employees have 鈥渟ignificantly higher employee engagement鈥 than their fully on-site peers.
Research by Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom shows that the number of days spent working from home following the onset of the pandemic, but has settled down to about five times the pre-pandemic level, with people about a quarter of their workdays. In of remote work, Bloom reports a 13% improvement in performance, a 50% reduction in quit rates, and $2,000 more profit per remote employee.
Remote work has significantly improved workplace accessibility, by people with disabilities鈥攖o the tune of 2 million people in the U.S. alone. The shift to remote work has also improved diversity in hiring. A that analyzed thousands of technical and managerial job postings found that if the roles were listed as remote, the number of applications from women and underrepresented minorities went up by 15% and 33%, respectively.
The environmental benefits are also significant鈥攑eople who work from home full-time by 54% compared to their office-based peers, and the surge in working from home (including hybrid arrangements) has by 10%, leading to reduced air pollution.
The cost of remote work
Despite the many benefits of remote work for people, businesses, and communities, it turns out that working remotely can end up harming employees when it comes to career growth, compensation, and job security鈥攂ecause proximity bias continues to put remote employees at a disadvantage.
According to the , an analysis of two million white collar workers shows that remote staff get promoted 31% less frequently than their hybrid or full on-site peers. Essentially, being remote means they miss out on office interactions and the chance to build strong relationships, which translates to fewer promotions.
Similarly, when it comes to compensation, shows that hybrid roles pay $22,000 less per year than in-office roles. The data also shows that employees who switched from a fully remote job to a fully on-site role received a 29% increase in pay. In other words, flexibility comes at a price for those who choose a hybrid or fully remote setup.
Perhaps most concerning in this era of mass layoffs is that remote workers are more likely to be impacted. The data shows that fully remote workers are 35% than their hybrid or on-site peers. It turns out that managers find it easier to deliver the bad news to folks they haven鈥檛 gotten to know in person.
What explains these disadvantages for remote employees? Proximity bias plays a major role. According to a , 87% of CEOs say that they鈥檙e more inclined to reward employees who come to the office with favorable assignments, raises, or promotions. In other words, by choosing remote work, employees fall out of favor with the leaders whose decisions impact their careers.
The RTO vs. WFH turf wars
Even though remote work has become commonplace, with in the U.S. being work-from-home days, the great return-to-office vs. work-from-home debate rages on. More and more companies, including industry leaders like Amazon and JPMorgan, are ordering staff to return to the office full-time, while others, like Dell, . Among the , 83% expect employees to be back in the office full-time within the next three years.
Meanwhile, employees who have come to prize the flexibility of remote and hybrid work are by the pressure to return to the office. Three in four companies are because employees simply refuse to comply, and 80% of companies have .
What do employees themselves prefer? that 60% of remote-capable employees prefer a hybrid setup, 30% want to be fully remote, and less than 10% prefer to work on-site. In other words, there鈥檚 a profound disconnect between business leaders ordering staff back to the office and their employees鈥 needs and preferences. In fact, many workplace experts believe that RTO mandates are a without resorting to layoffs, and one in four corporate leaders even .
Clearly, the matter is far from settled, and the RTO vs. WFH skirmishes will continue in 2025.
Hybrid work as the new normal
Five years on from the start of the pandemic, hybrid work seems to have emerged as the frontrunner, both in terms of actual practice and employee preference.
Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom reports that , typically going to the office three days a week. , 53% of U.S. employees with remote-capable jobs are currently working in a hybrid setup, and 60% say they prefer hybrid over fully remote or fully on-site.
Hybrid has emerged as the new normal because it offers a between companies wanting to see employees in the office and employees wanting flexibility. It also strikes a balance between facilitating social interaction and collaboration in the office and promoting deep work and flexibility on work-from-home days.
However, hybrid work requires thoughtful coordination to keep teams aligned, particularly when employees have varying office schedules. This is essentially a, and it鈥檚 up to leaders and managers to adopt emerging .

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