Remote work is no longer the exception to the rule

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Published Date 3/6/2020

The days of working in a sea of endless cubicles and gossiping around the water cooler may be ending. According to a new survey conducted by Redfin, with unemployment at the lowest level in decades, telecommuting is becoming more and more acceptable.

Many U.S. companies who wish to retain the workforce they have and attract even more employees are permitting their workers to move to more affordable areas while maintaining their salaries. “Of those who do move to a new metro area, 1 in 4 work remotely more frequently after relocating,” says Redfin’s Lily Katz, who adds that technology has enabled employers to let staff work remotely in a cost-efficient and productive manner. “Of all eligible survey respondents, more than half (51.1%) work remotely sometimes or always after their move, compared with just 44% who worked remotely before the move.”

To fend off raising salaries and to support retention, some employers are offering employees the ability to work remotely in a more affordable locale. “Survey respondents listed varying reasons for packing up their lives. The most common primary justification was more affordable housing (25.7%). In second place came proximity to family/partners (21.2%), followed by retirement (17.9%),” says Katz, who went on to say that while only a quarter of participants move for affordability, almost 60% said their ability to afford non-housing expenses and leisure activities improved after their relocation.

This employment exodus for the purpose of working remotely was most prevalent in metro areas like the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Seattle, while the most popular metro areas they ended up in included Phoenix, Sacramento, and Portland.

According to the report in the fourth quarter of 2019, 26% of Redfin.com home searchers looked to move to another metro area, up from 25% the same period in the prior year. This tied the all-time high for the national share of home-searchers looking to relocate that was set in the third quarter of 2019, with Phoenix, Sacramento and Las Vegas seeing the highest net inflows.

As would be expected, this migration was most popular among younger workers. “Of participants 38 and younger, 55.5% worked remotely sometimes or always after moving, up from 46.9% before moving,” said Katz. “Of participants 39 and older, 49.2% worked remotely sometimes or always after moving, compared with 42.7% before moving.”

As for productivity and employee satisfaction, according to a report by Forbes, remote workers have more autonomy and control over their days, evenings, and even weekends. One survey found that 86% of surveyed workers state that they reach maximum productivity working alone and that teamwork is not compromised because of the ability to videoconference whenever necessary -- even during non-working hours.

Sources: Redfin, Forbes. TBWS

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