Updated 05/17/2020 – Statista published this chart which shows the top reasons for WFH in 2019, as cited by U.S. remote workers.
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Work from home (WFH) – the practice of working remotely – has exploded with the COVID-19 pandemic. With social distancing in place, millions of more workers around the world started working from home in March 2020. But WFM is not a new trend. Computer Economics reports that over the past 11 years work from home has grown for many reasons.
Despite the pandemic, the trend toward telecommuting was already well underway according to Computer Economics. To measure how much telecommuting is occurring, they polled IT managers and asked them to estimate the percentage of their total staff that works from home at one of three levels.
In the 2019 report Trends in Telecommuting in the IT Workforce, Computer Economics found that 92% of IT shops allowed some form of remote work:
- 37% “only a specified amount of time”
- 35% “only under special circumstances”
- 20% allow personnel to work from home as they choose
- 8% did not allow any telecommuting in 2019.
When Computer Economics conducted the same research in 2008, 64% of IT organizations did not allow their personnel to work from home – at all.
Computer Economics concludes that even before the pandemic, the growth of WFM was enabled by a number of technologies. They cite the growth of high-speed internet, mobile devices, remote access, low-cost web conferencing, VoIP, and cloud computing.
WFM growth has been driven by three business demands. The research firm identified concerns about work/life balance, workforce retention, and business continuity. in the face of a pandemic is just one more benefit of the trend.
Tom Dunlap, research director for Computer Economics, wrote in the presser:
Many business leaders are learning a hard lesson … Having robust, companywide telecommuting capabilities in place—even if only used one or two days a week—should be deployed as a contingency measure during pandemics or other natural disasters.
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I work for one of the 35% “special circumstances” firms. At the beginning of the month, I submitted a proposal to start to allow “specified amount” telecommuting. But with the onset of COVID – they started to allow WFH – we will see if it sticks around in the “new normal.“
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.