The corporate world has spent the last two years locked in a stalemate, defined by return-to-office mandates, but companies are now struggling to enforce them.
In-office attendance has barely changed since 2023; the top-down push for on-site presence is failing to overcome the structural shift toward flexible work.
As we move into 2026, the discussion has decisively shifted from whether remote work is here to stay to how to optimize hybrid models to improve profitability, security, and culture.
In this article, we’ll delve into remote work statistics that will help you navigate the RTO noise and orchestrate your workforce based on a strategy that’s grounded in real data, not arbitrary mandates.
Approximately 34.6 million employed people in the U.S. teleworked in August 2025, showing it's a massive segment of the workforce.1
The U.S. telework rate has stabilized, consistently ranging between 17.9% and 23.8% from late 2022 to early 2025.1
Nearly 80% of employees whose jobs can be done remotely are working either hybrid (52%) or fully remote (26%) as of early 2025.2
Only 30% of companies plan to completely remove remote work by 2026.3
83% of global CEOs anticipate a return to full-time office work by 2027, reflecting a strong leadership push toward on-site presence.4
66% of professionals say they would be willing to come into the office five days a week for a higher salary.5
Remote work consists of two primary models: fully remote and hybrid.
The total number of people working from home remains significantly higher than pre-2020 levels, driven by employee preference and proven business viability.
Here’s a look at how many jobs are currently remote:
The remote work rate in the U.S. was 22.1% in August 2025.1
More than a third (36%) of worldwide job openings have hybrid or fully remote options.6
55% of employees want to work remotely at least three days per week.7
Almost all (98%) employees say they’d recommend working remotely.8
Access to remote work is heavily influenced by job type, education level, and age, highlighting a continuing digital and educational divide in access to workplace flexibility.
For companies looking to expand their talent pool, understanding these demographic trends is key.
The most recent data reveals clear patterns in who is teleworking:
Workers with an advanced degree have the highest telework rate at 41.2%, while 36.8% of those with only a Bachelor’s degree telework.1
Only 4.4% of workers with no high school diploma work remotely.1
Nearly 25% of employed women worked from home in August 2025, compared to about 20% of employed men.1
The 35-44 age group has the highest teleworking rate, at about 27%.1
Workers aged 16-24 have the lowest remote work adoption, at only 6%.1
Gen Z increasingly values in-person collaboration for professional growth, with 91% valuing in-person time.9
Employer sentiment is the primary driver behind the current push-and-pull dynamic in the labor market.
While remote work has proven its effectiveness, a significant number of business leaders are eager to see a return to the office, driven by concerns over culture and a traditional view of measuring productivity.
Stacie Haller, Chief Career Advisor for Resume Builder, says it has to do with top-down perceptions of employees:
This tension creates a competitive market for job seekers, where flexibility is an essential non-monetary benefit. Here's how employers are really looking at remote work today:
By 2026, companies requiring full five-day office attendance are expected to rise to 30%.3
Nearly half of all companies plan to require employees to be in the office four days a week or more.3
The top three reasons companies cite for increasing in-office requirements are: 1) strengthening company culture (64%); 2) boosting productivity (62%); 3) maximizing office space (45%).3
Only 28% of companies offer incentives (like social events or catered meals) to encourage attendance back to the office.3
The most significant trend of 2026 when it comes to remote work is the growing disconnect between what employers want and what employees demand.
C-suite leaders are pushing for a return to the office. But employees consistently cite flexibility as a non-negotiable benefit, and are often willing to walk away from a job that removes remote options.
This dilemma forces companies to strike a delicate balance. Losing employees is more costly than any perceived advantage of requiring them to be in the office.
These statistics hit at the cost to both employers and employees when remote work isn’t a consideration:
76% of workers would quit if they were no longer allowed to work remotely.10
Among those searching for new jobs, 85% said remote work is the primary factor motivating their search.10
For employers, the average real estate savings with full-time remote work is estimated to be $10,000 per employee per year.11
Twelve states, the District of Columbia, and the city of Seattle, Washington, have laws that require reimbursement to employees for work-related expenses, including telework expenses.12
In a study, employee resignations dropped by 33% for workers who went from working full-time on-site to a hybrid setup.13
Remote workers have up to a 54% lower carbon footprint than their in-office counterparts.14
The long-term data overwhelmingly supports the idea that remote work can be highly productive, even though employers may disagree. However, this productivity boost is conditional on a culture of trust and the provision of the right tools for seamless collaboration.
Leaders who focus on output rather than presence are the ones seeing the best results:
In a study of 800,000 employees, productivity was found to be stable or increased when working remotely from home.15
Eliminating commutes saves remote workers an average of 72 minutes daily.16
When remote workers save time from not commuting, about 40% of this time is redirected to productive work activities.16
Remote workers gain approximately 62 hours of productive work each year due to fewer in-office interruptions.17
Employees at the 2025 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® (97 of which support remote/hybrid) have productivity nearly 42% higher than a typical U.S. workplace.15
Compensation remains a key factor for employees when evaluating a job. But for some, remote work and flexibility are the top deciding elements.
The relationship between salary and work location is becoming more complex. Companies are balancing cost-of-living adjustments, market competitiveness, and the high value employees place on flexibility:
Employees report salary (77%) and remote work (70%) as the top two factors that matter most in a job.10
66% of professionals say they would be willing to work on-site full-time (5 days a week) for a higher salary.5
U.S. organizations are projecting mean salary increase budgets of 3.6% in 2026, a slight decrease from recent years that signals a cautious approach by employers.18
9% of U.S. workers said they would take a 20% pay cut to work remotely, and 21% would take a 10% cut.19
40% of U.S. workers would accept 95% or less of their current salary for the option to work remotely.19
Among tech workers, a study found that many were willing to accept a 25% lower salary for hybrid or fully remote roles compared to fully in-person ones.20
Over half (55 %) of full-time in-person employees surveyed said they’d take a pay cut in exchange for permanent remote or hybrid work, with an average acceptable cut of around 11%.21
Pre-pandemic data suggests that many knowledge workers doing remote work actually earned a wage premium compared to on-site counterparts.22
Median pay comparisons show that typical office workers earn around $178,500, remote workers around $164,000, and hybrid roles in between (around $170,000), suggesting hybrid models command a middle ground.23
Hybrid work—the blend of in-office and remote days—has become the dominant model for many employees able to work remotely.
However, a subtle yet significant shift is occurring, often termed “hybrid creep,” in which companies increase the number of mandatory office days, tilting the balance back toward the office.
The ideal hybrid model remains a flexible one, focused on team needs and purposeful in-office days:
6 in 10 employees who have remote-capable jobs prefer a hybrid arrangement, while 1 in 3 want to work fully remote.2
83% of workers feel more productive in a remote or hybrid work model than on-site or in-office.24
34% of employees must be present in the office four days a week, an increase from 32% in 2024 and 23% in 2023.25
The shift to remote work has dramatically elevated cybersecurity risks since employees can’t always maintain IT best practices at home.
Growing dependence on AI tools, as well as concerns about geopolitical instability, are also forcing cyber-risk to become a top strategic concern for business leaders.
Without centralized data management protocols, companies are more susceptible to cyber threats. Let these statistics be a reminder that no hybrid or remote work model is complete without the proper security protocols:
60% of business and tech leaders are making cyber risk investment one of their top three strategic priorities in response to geopolitical uncertainty.26
Only 6% of organizations feel confident across all cybersecurity vulnerabilities.26
42% of organizations reported a successful social engineering attack, or phishing, the most common attack on remote workers, in the past year.27
36% of organizations say AI tools are the top budget priority in the next 12 months for cybersecurity.28
The future of work is not just about where people work, but how they work.
The biggest workforce trends for 2026 involve deeper integration of technology like AI and a focus on employee well-being. For leadership, this means planning for technology investments and adopting performance-based metrics.
Hybrid and flexible work models will continue to anchor this shift. They bridge the gap between in-office collaboration and remote autonomy to create a more adaptive, employee-centered workplace:
The remote workplace services market is set to expand from $20.1 billion in 2022 to $58.5 billion by 2027.29
60% of employers expect broadening digital access to transform their business by 2030.27
86% of employers expect advancements in AI and information processing to be transformative by 2030.27
The number of global digital jobs that can be performed remotely from anywhere is expected to rise by roughly 25% to 92 million by 2030.30
43% of organizations expect the number of days in the office to increase by 2030.31
39% of organizations envision introducing different pay and benefits to employees who attend the office regularly versus those who work completely remotely.31
Leveraging remote work opportunities can have long-lasting benefits for businesses. Specifically, remote work speaks to what employees want and can help companies increase productivity and efficiency while minimizing costs.
Here’s a deeper look at where these revenue gains and cost savings come from.
Working from home can lead to double-digit productivity gains, as shown earlier. But beyond this massive boost in employee output, remote work can help you retain employees longer and attract employees from a wider spectrum of backgrounds.
Research shows remote job openings increase organizations’ available talent pools, leading to more diverse hires. A study by David H. Hsu and Prasanna Tambe from the Wharton School notes that a remote job listing can lead to:
15% more applicants who identify as female
33% more underrepresented minority (URM) candidates
The research also notes that remote status leads to a 17% overall increase in applicant experience.
Maintaining an office space entails significant overhead costs. If every remote-capable job in the U.S. allowed employees to work from home just 50% of the time, the total money saved would be over $700 billion in annual savings, per research from Global Workplace Analytics. That's around $2,000 to $6,500 per employee.
Rent, relocation costs, facilities maintenance, equipment, and even taxes are all areas where companies can maximize cost savings by switching to a remote work model.
If you’ve run headcount planning models and come up short on skills with your existing staff, it might be time to consider changing up your work model to close the gaps.
Looking at job postings alone, competition for flexible work is intense. Only about 10% of job postings are fully remote, but they attract on average 2.6 times as many applications as in-person jobs. Plus, 70% of job seekers now rank hybrid work as a preferred option, with 25% opting for fully remote.
Companies can gain exposure to top applicants from non-local markets by swapping to a remote-first work model.
In addition to accessing a wider talent pool, remote work can help reduce the cost of employee turnover by increasing job satisfaction.
In 2025, the average cost of turnover for U.S. businesses is $36,723 annually. And those costs are exacerbated by rigid policies: 21% of hiring managers cite "lack of flexible schedules" as a key driver of employee resignation.
All in all, retaining employees who value flexibility protects your bottom line and makes your organization more competitive when attracting new talent.
Finance and operations leaders are at the center of balancing employee demands with bottom-line performance. Providing flexible work arrangements directly impacts both your operating expenses and your workforce planning.
However you intend to ride the remote work wave, it’s important to tailor your approach to the unique needs of your business. With support for OpEx and workforce planning, Vena’s complete planning platform can help you model the potential impact of remote work for your budget with ease.
Sources:
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