The evidence continues to mount (not that we ever thought it was a passing trend) that more and more people are working remotely.

It’s not surprising to us, but it’s an important validation of our research and custom PRC programming that we designed to support virtual teams and virtual leaders.

The most recent report is based on an analysis of American Community Survey data by Global Workplace Analytics and FlexJobs, and it shows that the number of people telecommuting in the U.S. increased 159 percent between 2005 and 2017. This new data is based on an analysis of the most current U.S. government data available (from 2017, released in 2018), and represents the most up-to-date statistics about remote work in the United States.

It’s important to note that this report looked at data only through 2017 and at non-self-employed people who work from home at least half-time. With that in mind, the number of people who work remotely is likely much, much higher when you include current data from independent contractors, part-time remote workers, and all of the other employment configurations that place people away from their bosses and teammates.

Additional findings from the report are:

• Between 2016 and 2017 remote work grew 7.9% 
• Over the last 5 years, remote work has grown 44% 
• Over the last 10 years, remote work has grown 91% 
• 4% of the total U.S. workforce are remote workers, up from 2.9% in 2015 
• 7 million people in the U.S. currently telecommute, up from 3.9 million in 2015

We know from experience that many businesses have introduced telecommuting programs because they want a competitive hiring advantage or they want to leverage technology. The problems arise when remote teams and leaders don’t have the systems – and skills – in place to support their success.

We know that virtual work is here to stay, and we want businesses to reap the bottom-line benefits of a remote workforce and hire the best and brightest from around the world. At PRC, we understand the needs of remote workers and remote leaders and we can provide the resources and training to make virtual teams thrive.  Contact us to get started today.