Remote Work Trends to Watch

𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐖𝐅𝐇 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐞 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 ! 💡Remote Work impacts talent attraction and retention strategies (TA&R) as well as compensation management strategy. 👍🏻The inability to work remotely has been correlated with a 14% increase in intent to leave and organizations with return-to-office mandates stand to risk losing - through termination or attrition - their more highly paid employees. 🔥 Moreover, employees who can work remotely as needed are 22% less likely to quit than fully remote workers and 32% less likely to quit compared to fully on-site workers. For HR leaders, the primary culprits of declination of productivity are higher than average turnover and insufficient pay, according to a new interesting research published by Payscale using data from 309,971 employees with on online salary survey between August 2021 and August 2023, in addition to data from a survey of 980 employers fielded between July and August 2023. Researchers also found when it comes to motivating employees to return to offices, 89% of employers believe that ‘carrots’ work better than ‘sticks.’ Some examples of carrots provided by employers in the comments include:  ✔️Team-building activities,  ✔️Stipends for commuting,  ✔️Free or subsidized meals,  ✔️Interesting speakers or other events,  ✔️ Theme days, and geographic pay differentials with pay communications to help employees understand the benefit. Researchers discovered that remote work ranked second to last, just above anti-work sentiment when they participants to rank which factors are having the most impact on productivity in their opinion. Researchers listed below the main factors that impact productivity in US: 1️⃣ High turnover 2️⃣ Insufficient pay 3️⃣ Mental Health concerns 4️⃣ Supply and demand challenges 5️⃣ Remote Work 6️⃣ Anti-work sentiment 💥 Researchers noticed that only 57% of organizations measure productivity, and only 10% do so tangibly. Interestingly, researchers found that majority of organizations don't reward employees for increased productivity. ❌only 10% do so in a calculable manner that would motivate employees. ❌ Another 30% reward performance nebulously through the discretion of managers. These findings align with recent research done by Gartner, and by a team lead by Nick Bloom Professor of Economics at Stanford University. Also as Nick said, the most persuasive data are from the markets - but also in the companies themselves based on this new research. ✍🏻 How do you think companies can provide flexibility and retain and attract their best talent? Thank you 🙏 Payscale researchers team for these insightful findings: Ruth Thomas Lexi Clarke Scott Torrey  Dave Ulrich George Kemish LLM MCMI MIC MIoL #wfh #rto #remotework #attrition 

Big company CEOs increasingly get that enabling talent through flexibility and technology is key to future performance. Last year, KPMG put out a survey showing 62% of CEOs thought they'd have workers back in the office full time in 3 years. This year, that's down to 34%. They also are moderating AI spend. What's changed? Talent matters. Big company CEOs are (still) sweating talent, increasingly understand that talent and teams are distributed, that mandates don't improve performance, and that #AI will augment not replace. Here are the main insights from KPMG's survey of 100 CEOs at large US-based companies (>$500M revenue): 🔸 #Growth orientation on the rise: 78% are confident in the growth prospects for their company; 87% are confident in the US economy. 🔸 #GenAI enthusiasm moderating: more plan to keep #AI spending flat than expand spending next year (56% vs 41%); only 39% are scaling programs. 🔸 #Talent matters: 78% investing in upskilling, 69% leveraging AI to help fill skill gaps for workers, and 70% reducing college degree requirements. 🔸 #Hybrid is winning: 34% of big company CEOs now think they'll have office workers back full-time in three years, down from 62% last year. Given the amount of research this year showing that #ReturnToOffice mandates decrease engagement, increase turnover risk and don't yield results, it's not surprising but good to see. Overall, a pretty encouraging report! 🔗 Link to study in comments; have a read, and let me know what you think! #FutureOfWork #leadership #CEO #economy #hybridwork #remote #remotework

Remote work has been treated as a silver bullet for employee satisfaction. Our new study suggests the story is more complicated. In my new paper in Management Science, Jason Schloetzer and I examine nearly 165,000 employees across more than 73,000 U.S. firms between 2020 and 2023 to ask a basic question: does remote work itself drive job satisfaction and retention, or is it a proxy for something deeper? In the raw data, employees who work remotely report higher job satisfaction and lower intent to leave. But once we control for compensation, occupation, demographics, and especially workplace characteristics such as pay transparency, development opportunities, and feeling appreciated, the “remote premium” largely disappears. Two findings stand out: 1) Workplace characteristics dominate. A one standard deviation increase in feeling appreciated at work is associated with a 0.31 standard deviation increase in job satisfaction. Remote work effects are economically small by comparison. 2) Remote work and retention move in opposite directions once we account for culture. Fully or mostly remote employees are more likely to report plans to seek a new job within six months, conditional on workplace characteristics. The effects are also heterogeneous. Remote work translates to job satisfaction the most in low coordination roles and for employees who rate their managers poorly. In other words, flexibility matters most when it reduces frictions in supervision or teamwork. To validate these results and dig deeper, we also draw on incredible longitudinal data from the Gallup Workforce Panel and show that good managers moderate the efficacy of remote work -- that is, even good intentions with flexibility will go deeply wrong if not managed appropriately. And the good news is that managers can be trained and teams can be optimized! The key takeaway is that remote work is not a substitute for strong organizational fundamentals. Culture, trust, managerial quality, and clear communication explain far more variation in satisfaction and retention than location alone. Before redesigning work location, measure and improve the underlying workplace environment. Remote work can amplify strengths, but it cannot compensate for weak management or poor internal communication. Thank you to Shiva Rajgopal who has tirelessly served as an editor at Management Science for years, Payscale for sharing data, and Gallup for the impeccable longitudinal Workforce Panel (and building on the years of work by Jim Harter on the role of managers). #RemoteWork #OrganizationalCulture #FutureOfWork #LaborMarkets #ManagementScience

70% of U.S. tech workers are staying put in 2025. If you manage a Workday team, that number should both comfort you... and make you nervous. Because the reasons they’re staying aren’t the reasons you might expect. According to Robert Half's 2025 Employee Retention Survey, the top two reasons are clear: 1) Flexibility (Where, when, and how they work) 2) Their manager (Trust, support, and leadership quality) This figure is about 10% higher than when we measured it at this point last year in the 2024/25 Corner Office Consultants Workday Compensation & Market Guide. It also aligns with other workplace research we are seeing: → 83% of U.S. employees say work–life balance matters more than salary. → Only 33% of companies require full-time in-office work; 43% have adopted structured hybrid models. → 80% of employees would stay if they trust their manager, even during financial uncertainty. For the 30% who are looking to move this year, the top reasons are: 1) Better Benefits (45%) 2) Career Advancement (43%) 3) Higher Compensation (42%) Notable: Benefits have overtaken compensation at the top of the list a shift not seen in years. In our past compensation surveys, Compensation almost always ranked in the top two reasons for leaving. So, what this means for retention and hiring in the Workday ecosystem: 1️⃣ Flexibility is currency. Now isn’t the time to roll back hybrid or remote options for your Workday teams. 2️⃣ Managers are your retention engine. In many RIFs, the management layer is first to go. But in Workday environments, managers often hold projects, teams, or client relationships together. Lose the wrong one, and retention across your team can unravel. 3️⃣ Hiring requires agility. Static job descriptions aren’t going to cut it. Workday professionals are weighing flexibility, benefits, and career growth more heavily and your hiring approach should reflect that. One more shift worth noting: → 71% of workers say they’d consider contracting instead of a full-time role. In the Workday talent market, while not this high, it’s absolutely a trend we’re seeing. Oh, and don’t get too comfy,  the “stability” we see now won’t last. By 2026, over 50% of workers say they expect to be actively on the market. Interesting times indeed.🤔 #Workday #EmployeeRetention #WorkforceTrends #FutureofWork #TalentStrategy

Headlines about companies mandating a full return to the office dominate the conversation, but they often misrepresent broader trends. Reliable data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that hybrid and remote work arrangements are growing, not shrinking. In August 2024, 22.8% of workers reported teleworking part- or full-time, up from 19.5% the previous year. This flexibility isn’t just about convenience—it’s a key driver of retention and productivity. Companies enforcing strict in-office policies face higher turnover, while flexible organizations retain talent and report better employee well-being. Trends like “hushed hybrid” arrangements and “coffee badging” reflect employees’ preference for autonomy, even under mandates. The message is clear: flexibility isn’t a trend; it’s the future of work. Organizations that adapt will not only retain top talent but also foster more innovative and engaged workplaces.

Your remote team isn’t disengaged. Your leadership is.💻 When Microsoft mandated 50% office days in 2022, engineering teams saw 22% attrition in 6 months. Why? Leaders confused presence with performance—and forgot remote work isn’t a perk. It’s a paradigm shift. The Hidden Costs of "Hybrid Chaos" – Inconsistent presence: Half the team in-office, half on Zoom = two classes of employees. – Proximity bias: 78% of remote workers feel excluded from promotions (Gallup, 2023). – Meeting fatigue: 63% of hybrid teams waste 8+ hours/week on redundant syncs (Slack). Fix the System, Not the People → Silent Mondays No meetings. Async updates only. Let deep work thrive. → Outcome-based KPIs Track deliverables, not screen time. Example: “Code shipped” > “Hours logged.” → Over-rotate on inclusion – Rotate meeting times to accommodate time zones. – Record all decisions in shared docs (email doesn’t count). The Data-Driven Win Teams with async-first cultures report 40% higher engagement (GitLab). Companies using “virtual watercooler” tools see 31% less turnover (2024 Owl Labs Study). 92% of employees say flexibility directly impacts loyalty (Upwork). Remote work isn’t the problem. Outdated leadership is. #FutureOfWork #RemoteLeadership #EmployeeExperience

Maintaining a strong organizational culture in a remote/hybrid work environment requires deliberate and thoughtful leadership. While foundational leadership principles—relationships, trust, listening, communication, and empowerment—remain constant, their application must be even more intentional when teams are dispersed. Leadership in this environment requires focusing on CONNECTION and CLARITY. Connection fosters genuine relationships despite physical separation, while clarity ensures communication and priorities are understood and aligned across the team. 1. DELIBERATE COMMUNICATION: In a remote/hybrid setting, spontaneous office conversations disappear, so creating intentional opportunities to connect are vital. Schedule regular check-ins that focus on relationships, not just tasks. Informal touchpoints—through calls, texts, or other mediums—maintain connection without being intrusive. These connections foster a culture where employees feel heard, valued, and engaged, which is key to talent retention and growth. 2. CLARITY: Miscommunication can increase without face-to-face interaction. Simple, clear communication ensures everyone is aligned. Regularly asking for and proactively providing "read-backs" - repeating back the information - reduces confusion and misinterpretation. 3. PRIORITIZATION: Clear priorities are essential in a remote setting where visibility into others' work is limited. Without clarity, people may feel overwhelmed or out of sync. Consistent communication around priorities helps teams stay focused, productive, and avoid burnout. 4. EMPOWERMENT and OWNERSHIP: Remote work offers opportunities for decentralized command, but it requires providing the right information, tools, and expectations. Teams need to know what decisions they’re empowered to make and how their work fits into broader objectives. It’s essential that team members know WHY they are working on certain goals and how their contributions fit into the broader objectives. While leaders may be tempted to micromanage due to lack of visibility, resisting this urge is crucial. Trusting people to execute with autonomy fosters greater engagement and efficiency. Conclusion In a remote/hybrid environment, culture must be actively defined and reinforced. Leaders need to recognize that time spent on strengthening relationships is strategically important, and schedule time through one-on-ones, virtual coffee chats, and informal touch-points to maintain the relational fabric often overlooked in remote settings. Empowering teams with clarity and trusting them to execute creates a strong, cohesive culture. Leadership in this environment requires intentionality—building connections, ensuring clear communication, and fostering a culture of trust and empowerment.

For more than 25 years, I've worked from home. And honestly? I love it. I love the heads-down time to think deeply, write, solve problems, and get meaningful work done without interruption. But I also love being with colleagues and clients. Being on-site with a client energizes me. Sharing ideas over coffee, collaborating in a meeting room, or simply catching up with someone before a meeting creates connections that are difficult to replicate through a screen. That's why two recent studies on remote work caught my attention. One study, published in Science, found that fully remote workers reported higher levels of mental health distress, greater feelings of isolation, and were more likely to seek mental health support than workers who were not remote. At the same time, new research from Nick Bloom and WFH Research found that work-from-home levels have largely stabilized despite return-to-office mandates. In the Bay Area, nearly 30% of paid workdays are still performed remotely, and many organizations continue to offer hybrid flexibility. Taken together, these studies suggest something important: The future of work is probably not fully remote or fully in-office. It's hybrid. The most interesting insight from the mental health research was what some experts called the "Goldilocks effect." Workers who spent about two days per week working remotely appeared to benefit from both flexibility and social connection. For HR leaders, I believe the lesson is clear: ➡️ Stop debating where work happens and start focusing on how connection happens. If hybrid work is here to stay, organizations need intentional strategies to build community, collaboration, and belonging. Some questions worth asking: • Do employees have meaningful opportunities to connect with colleagues? • Are managers trained to foster inclusion and relationships in hybrid teams? • Are new hires building strong networks and learning from others? • Are we creating reasons for people to come together beyond simply occupying office space? The goal should not be attendance. The goal should be connection. Flexibility supports productivity, autonomy, and well-being. Human connection supports engagement, learning, and mental health. The organizations that figure out how to deliver both will have a significant advantage. And one final thought... The next time I reach out and ask you to grab lunch, remember that after 25 years of working from home, it's not because I need a meeting. It's because relationships matter. Connection fuels both performance and well-being. #FutureOfWork #HybridWork #Leadership #EmployeeExperience #PerformanceEnablement #HR #WorkplaceCulture

Remote Work: 20 Years of Proof in the Pudding 🌎 With AT&T and Amazon making headlines for their RTO mandates, many are questioning what drives real business success. As someone who's run a successful remote agency since 2004, I can tell you: the data supports what we've seen in practice. Stanford research shows remote workers are 13% more productive than office-based peers, while Owl Labs found they're 22% more likely to stay with their employer. Our results back this up. Working remotely, our team has delivered: 🔸 416% growth in qualified leads for a Global Trade Management client (4.5 months) 🔸 97% reduction in bounce rates and 86% revenue increase for a Professional Education provider 🔸 21% boost in organic traffic post-replatforming for a manufacturing client What makes remote successful isn't the location - it's the process. We learned early that clear communication, strong project management, and results-focused delivery matter more than sharing an office. The real win? When you free talented people to do their best work, you can: 🔸 Set strategy and coach Fortune 500 companies 🔸 Deliver high-ROI digital marketing campaigns 🔸 Build long-term partnerships across North America 🔸 Access top talent regardless of location And here's a bonus our team loves: the freedom to work from anywhere. Just this year, our team members have: 🔸 Explored Beijing's bustling streets 🔸 Discovered Greece's ancient wonders 🔸 Adventured through Slovenia 🔸 Slow traveled for two months in Portugal (the photo with this is when our Head of Operations, Cristiana Pruteanu, and I met there in Porto and traveled to the Douro River Valley) Happy teams deliver better results. While major corporations push for office returns, smart leaders are asking: what truly drives productivity and retention? Let's talk about what works. Here's a link to put time on the calendar: https://lnkd.in/ejFsnRbS #RemoteWork #B2BMarketing #DigitalMarketing #Leadership

“Productivity is down? Get back to the office.” 🚨 Sound familiar? Companies pushing Return to Office (RTO) are ignoring what the data—and their employees—are telling them: flexible work works. 📊 Here’s the reality: 1) Higher Productivity: Remote and flexible workers are 13% more productive (Stanford). 2) Better Retention: 76% of employees say they’d stay longer at a company that offers flexibility (Future Forum). 3) Increased Engagement: Companies with flexible policies see 35% higher engagement rates (Gallup). The truth? RTO isn’t about productivity—it’s about control. And employees have seen through it. Meanwhile, forward-thinking companies are embracing RTROW—Redefining the Rules of Work. They’re creating workplaces that prioritize: ✅ Trust over micromanagement. ✅ Outcomes over office appearances. ✅ People over outdated systems of control. As Adam Grant said: “Flexibility is not the enemy of productivity. It’s the antidote to burnout.” The future of work isn’t about forcing people back to the way things were. It’s about building systems that empower employees to do their best work—wherever they are. So here’s the question: Are you leading a workplace of trust and outcomes? Or holding on to systems that belong in the past? Let’s redefine the rules. Drop your thoughts below 👇 #ReMoteWorkMondays #FlexibleWork #RedefineWork