Share of employees working primarily remotely worldwide 2015-2023

The trend of working remotely has been slowly increasing globally since 2015, with a one to three percent annual increase rate. However, the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 upended the world economy and global markets. Employment trends were no exception to this, with the share of employees working remotely increasing to some 27 percent in 2022 from just 13 percent two years prior. The industry with the highest share of remote workers globally in 2023 was by far the technology sector, with over 67 percent of tech employees worldwide working fully or mostly remotely.

How are employers dealing with remote work?

Many employers around the world have already adopted some remote work policies. According to IT industry leaders, reasons for remote work adoption ranged from a desire to broaden a company’s talent pool, increase productivity, and reduce costs from office equipment or real estate investments. Nonetheless, employers worldwide grappled with various concerns related to hybrid work.

Among tech leaders, leading concerns included enabling effective collaboration and preserving organizational culture in hybrid work environments. Consequently, it’s unsurprising that maintaining organizational culture, fostering collaboration, and real estate investments emerged as key drivers for return-to-office mandates globally. However, these efforts were not without challenges. Notably, 21 percent of employers faced employee resistance to returning to the office, prompting a review of their remote work policies.