People want to work from home permanently and they’d rather quit their job than go back to office drama and terrible daily commutes.

Almost 60% of employees say they would quit their job if forced to return to the office and more than a third of employees want to work from home permanently. Only 2% of employees would like to return to the office full-time.

More employees are quitting their jobs instead of Giving Up Working From Home. The drive to get people back into offices is clashing with workers who’ve embraced remote work as the new normal. People working from home get more accomplished and are exposed to much less stress.

Executives said 20 percent of their full-time employees worked from home before the pandemic, but 77 percent said after the pandemic, they expected an increase in workers who spend at least 3 to 5days a week working from home.

Most people say they want to work from home permanently; the pandemic has changed things. If their employer won’t allow it, they’ll find a job that does.

While some companies used to offer the ability to work from home as a perk, it is becoming the norm for employees seeking work. By 2025, it’s estimated 70% of the workforce will be working remotely at least five days a month.

Employers may be itching to get the office up and running again, but filling those empty desks may be harder than they think.

When employees say, “I want to work from home full time,” employers should listen. If they don’t, they run the risk of losing valuable staff.

While 2020 may be considered the year of remote work, it is just the beginning, as we see the trend continuing in 2021 and beyond.

Employees would rather quit than be forced back to the office

A report from Bloomberg found that most employees have become so comfortable working from home that they’d rather quit than be forced back to the office.

The percentage of workers permanently working from home is expected to double in 2021, according to a survey from Enterprise Technology Research.

“The work productivity metric is proving that remote work is working,” said Erik Bradley, chief engagement strategist at ETR. “So, we all thought there would be some increase in permanent remote work, but we didn’t expect that to double from pre-pandemic levels.” 

A recent Gartner CFO survey revealed over two-thirds (74%) of companies plan to permanently shift employees to remote work after the Covid crisis ends. As expected, Big Tech companies are paving the way.

A survey by online job site Flex Work found that 58% of respondents said they would “absolutely” look for a new job if they weren’t allowed to continue working from home. “Cost savings” and “not having a commute” were the top two benefits of remote work, the survey found.

Working from home has opened the eyes of thousands to the value it brings to their lives.

Work From Home PROS and CONS

PROS

• No traffic – less stress
• No getting up early – more sleep is healthier
• No buying expensive clothes to wear to the office – money saving
• No wear and tear on the car
• Very little gas money to spend
• Less oil changes for the car
• Car insurance discount since you don’t drive as much
• No stress for running late due to unforeseen traffic
• No gossip to endure at the office
• No micromanaging boss to deal with
• No interruptions at the office
• No fighting over the thermostat for proper room temp at the office
• No one steals your food from the fridge at home
• No putting on that “team player face”
• No yelling or arguing
• No toxic people (we all have them unfortunately)
• No spending money eating out for lunch (it adds up)
• No toxic people (did I say this already?)
• No negativity
• No ridiculous meetings about nothing
• No traffic going home
• No rushing to make dinner (who wants to make dinner after a stressful day)
• No rushing to do chores on the weekend, blowing your entire weekend
• No rushing to get home to take the kids to sports
• No awkward scheduling for doctor appointments
• No taking a day off without pay to see your doctor (go on lunch)
• No stress of fitting in chores and house work; do them on lunch
• No more spending only a couple hours with your kids each day
• No more rushing to pick the kids up from daycare
• No more daycare to pay for

CONS

• Coworkers don’t see each other in person

Working Solutions – Working From Home

Most employees are saying “let’s work remotely” and many companies are listening.

The work from home shift has already pushed some companies to change their entire work culture. Twitter, Square and REI are allowing their employees to work remotely permanently, while Microsoft are offering workers the ability to take part in a hybrid work-from-home model.

With the hybrid work model, employees go into the office a few days a week and continue working from home other days.

The plandemic forced thousands, if not millions of people, to work from home.

Smart companies ahead of the curve realized they can operate fine with remote employees and save money in the process, while not-so-smart companies are forcing employees back to the office.

More companies are allowing people to work from home permanently because there are less overhead expense (building leases, utility bills) and rises in employee productivity.

More companies have scaled down with either the selling of buildings, not extending their leases or subleasing unused floors in the building.

Call Center work from home jobs are the most popular and can be done anywhere.

Working From Home Remotely is Becoming The New Normal

Some companies are forcing employees back to the office by summer 2021, without the option for remote work. This is causing a problem for companies since most employees want to work from home permanently.

People who want to continue to work from home permanently are not happy about returning to the office; they will either quit or look for remote only jobs.

Not every company is on board with allowing employees to work from home on a permanent or semi-permanent basis, such as Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon has been outspoken about his employees not working from home.

Because most people want to work from home permanently, they’ve either started looking for remote work from home jobs (there are many), or threatening to quit.

When looking for a new job, potential employees look for benefits including medical, dental and 401k. Starting in 2021, job seekers are looking for remote work as a benefit; companies not willing to offer working from home may be in trouble.

A huge wave of remote work is taking place; times are changing.

Going to the office every day is becoming something of the past for many employees.

Companies will regret not allowing their high-performing employees the option to work from home; they will lose a lot of talented people.

People Want To Work From Home Permanently – THE SURVEYS

According to Reuters, nearly nine out of 10 workers want to choose whether to work from home or the office and have greater autonomy over their hours, according to research from Cisco Systems.

The plandemic has rapidly shifted attitudes towards home working, the research showed, with two thirds of workers developing a greater appreciation of the benefits and challenges of doing their jobs remotely.

Cisco surveyed 10,000 people across 12 markets in Europe, the Middle East and Russia for its Workforce of the Future research.

Even though only 5% of those surveyed worked from home most of the time before the lockdown, now 87% of workers want the ability to choose where, how and when they worked – blending between being office-based and working remotely, Cisco said in a report.

The truth is many American workers have actually grown to LOVE working from home, and they intend to demand more flexibility from employers who are hopeful to see them back in their cubes come summer of 2021.

In another survey of over 17,000 workers, only 23.9% said they would not want to work from home, while 27.3% said they want to work from home 5 days a week permanently. The remaining 48.9% said they’d like to work from home 1-4 days a week. “People like having that time back,” Savikas says, while adding that employees also like the flexibility of working remotely because they can “structure the day how they want.”

According to a joint CNBC/Change Research survey of more than 5,000 people, 47% said the time they would normally spend on commuting has now been used to spend more time with their family. The survey, which gathered responses between April 17 and April 18, also found that employees have been spending the time they save on their commute to sleep more, focus on various hobbies and get more work done on the job and around the house.

According to a new Harvard Business School survey, more than half of workers, 61%, who have been at home since March 2020, say they would like a hybrid work schedule where they go into the office only two or three days a week. Another 27% want to work remotely full-time, and only 18% want to go back into the office full-time.

“Now, as we’re preparing to get back to ‘business as usual,’ it seems professionals don’t want ‘business as usual,'” Harvard Business School Online Executive Director Patrick Mullane said. “Instead, employees want flexibility from their employers to allow them to maintain the new work/home balance and productivity they have come to enjoy.” About a third of workers said their quality of work is better at home and that it is easier to focus away from the office.

A survey from the University of Southern California and the California Emerging Technology Fund explored employee feelings about remote work, remote learning and tele health. The survey found that 42% of current, full-time remote workers want to keep working from home. Another 21% who also want to keep working from home say they are willing to go into the office one or two days a week. Only 17% of those surveyed say they want to go back to their workplaces five days a week.

According to NEWSWEEK, “The demand for flexibility in where and how people work has been building for decades. Before the crisis, surveys repeatedly showed 80% of employees want to work from home at least some of the time. Over a third would take a pay cut in exchange for the option,” the report said. “The genie is out of the bottle and it’s not likely to go back in.”

A sizeable chunk of the workforce is willing to work for less for the luxury of working from home. People want to work from home permanently.

What REDDIT users say about wanting to work from home permanently

I found this great reddit post. What some people have to say about never wanting to go back into an office

• There is no less valuable time than commuting and just sitting in traffic. All of it is negative, pollution, stress, wasted time, risk of accidents, all so you can get to the office, put on headsets and not talk to a single person around you (in many desk jobs).
• I’m being told that I have to return to the office in September. I’ve been with my current employer for 20 years and run a team of 15. Some of those team members already worked from home when Covid hit. My employer won’t provide me with a flexible schedule and now I’m interviewing with a new company because of it. To put 20 years into a place, have so much responsibility and be great at what I do and have to leave because of such short sidedness is sad and frustrating.
• The average American car commute is 16 miles and takes 27 minutes. Over a year, this adds up to almost 10 days spent driving, and over $4,000 of mileage costs.
• I live in a town about 60 miles outside of Washington DC, and a lot of people here commute 2+ hours every morning and 2+ hours every evening to their jobs there. I just can’t comprehend how anyone does it. I get it, in terms of better job opportunities there, but if we can get any of those cars off the road and keep people home for jobs that they can absolutely do remotely, that’s the future.
• Yeah when you do the math it’s really bad. You are at work for 8 hours plus the one hour lunch that’s 9 hours the two hours each way now you’re at 13 hours and the hour to get ready in the morning 14 hours plus cooking and bathing 1 hour plus 8 hours sleep is 23 hours. Congrats you have one hour of free time, don’t spend it all in one place.
• My very first job was an hour away just because I was desperate. I almost immediately started looking for another job closer to home which is a lot easier to do while already having a job. Left after 8 months to a job that was only 15 mins away. 1 hour commutes suck I cant even begin to imagine 2 hours.
• we are (and we have for the last year +) working from home with even higher performance, higher ups are still pushing to take us back to the office ASAP because engagement (whatever the hell that means)
• Engagement = control (or their perceived control over workers)
• It’s literally the difference between being able to cook a healthy meal, cleanup afterwards and go for a short walk. Not to mention all the time and money saved on breakfasts, coffee and lunch throughout the week.
•  I drive 45 miles to work & it takes 90 minutes, due to traffic. 3 hours stuck in traffic each day.
• I’ve gained 2 hours a day of sleep per day. Saved a fortune on commuting costs and time. I get to make dinner and see my family instead of getting home 15 mins before the kids bedtime….and for that I’m willing to miss out on office lunch, chit chat with people I barely know and Sitting in a small room talking about something that could have been an email.
• People realized they could get shit done around the house and get all their work done. Infinitely better than trying to smash cleaning and chores into the time you aren’t stuck at an office.
• Aside from everything else there’s an ethical imperative to make working from home the new normal. All those dickhead bosses who want to physically see their employees have to start explaining why that’s more important than a massive reduction in everyone’s carbon footprint.
• My company owner’s answer to being in the office is “our unique company culture”
• My company has repeatedly acknowledged that we have gotten MORE done since the pandemic started, and that working from home seems to be better all around, but still wants us to come in a few days a week minimum because reasons.
• But what does middle management do when there is no one to physically micro manage and there is no one to “Whip back into shape”. Im sure there are a handful of middle management jobs that to present a net positive to the working environment by actually providing additional work and help to the lower ranked workers. But I cant ( in my own personal experience) think of a single person in middle management that I can even imagine was remotely or at all helpful/needed when there are not people to shuffle around and pretend you are “Managing”.
• Not having to commute+getting dressed up probably gives back much of your day to do your own stuff. It makes sense
• For me, half my in office job is dicking around on the internet just waiting for something to happen. At home I can wash the dishes or fold laundry while waiting for something to happen
• A friend of mine who’s a corporate lawyer was told by her dinosaur boss who can’t use a computer that any days worked from home would be taken away from their annual leave. That’s how fucking idiotic these people are. I’m happy to say she was in a position to be able to quit, and did.
• And how is a commute not the company stealing my time?
• Let’s sit in a conference room until 2 am working on a slide deck (and yes order in pizza, woopy) vs let’s do this from home while petting your dog occassionally and putting a roast in and out of a crock pot and getting it done by 9 pm. I mean the difference has been clear for me. We get so much more done from home.
• Seeing and smelling the clean(er) air during the first months of the pandemic made me feel so happy. The amount of pollution that can be diminished by permanent work from home is worth it.
• Oh man, during those first months of lockdown at the start of the pandemic I could stand on my balcony in the mornings in Vancouver and smell the forest and the ocean. I’ll miss that feeling forever and ever.
• I completely get why some of my co-workers want to be in an office. They get lonely/stressed/isolated/etc when they are forced to work from home full time and I’m all for a solution that provides them an opportunity to mingle but I’m never stepping foot in an office again if I have any say in the matter.
• I’m in favor of the “treat your employees like adults and they will perform like adults” Give people the choice and flexibility and they will take the option that let’s them work best. People want to do a good job.
• Working from home has been a dream come true. I drive a lot for work and there’s zero traffic now. It’s so nice not having to plan client appointments based around what time of day it is. I think it’s a win all around to let people stay working from home if they can do it.
• Hours of life saved, no stupid jampacked commute, less stress about being on time to work/daycare/school/make supper, less times telling the kids to “hurry up” and pressuring them about constantly running everywhere. Can pick up kids early, have more quality time with them instead of supper/bath/sleep. Better sleep schedule, laundry is over 7 days instead of the whole of Sunday.
• Every coffee machine discussion was time I wasted and meant I had to do overtime from home at 10 pm anyhow. Every person coming to my desk to “ask a simple question” would make me lose my train of thoughts for 15 minutes. Now I can just put a cone of silence on myself and deal with poking when it’s convenient! (aka code is compiling). I don’t live to work, I work to live, and living is VERY IMPORTANT!
• I’ve got a better setup, better ergonomics, better coffee, no commuting and because of all that my quality of work and productivity has increased since I started working 100% remote.
• I nearly forgot how awful one of my coworkers is over the last year. Now that we’re being forced to go back to the office in the fall I’ve started applying for 20 jobs a day. I’m getting out of here and going somewhere where they’re smart enough to have at least a hybrid remote work model.
• Had to go back to the office yesterday. Not only is it a 45 minute drive each way, I have to get up an hour earlier. That’s and extra 12.5 hours a week. I just lost a half day per week of my life that is uncompensated by my job. What I make per hour is now reduced.
• My work just literally told me this morning, after weeks of assurances that we’d only be partially back in the office when things opened up that we’re going back full time. Nope, not happening. 1 week after giving my notice in I was offered a remote job for 12K more.
• Ahh it reminds me of how one of my senior VPs told us our jobs were fine and 3 weeks later laid off 300 people. I love corporations!!
• We must have similar management. Corporate is saying the same thing: collaboration, connection and the ability to work face to face are how the company thrives. Mr. CEO, I don’t care about your idea’s of what makes collaboration and team work happen, I care about the facts. And the facts are that I have been seamlessly collaborating from home just fine. Me being in the office to sit in a room with a bunch of people who I can literally see in a zoom call is an utter waste of everyone’s time. 
• I don’t think you understand… my CEO, Nick, told me that our company is based on our culture, and that our culture is best when we can all be there together… in one place at one time. He also said he misses seeing our smiling faces (but not via a Zoom call I guess?
• Yea because working from home is the first pay rise we’ve had in years. Commuting brings with it cost.
• I actually buy healthier food that I’ll cook at home as opposed to an extra $15-20 for lunch because I suck at prepping a lunch the day before, or the morning of. I did hard keto from June 2020 to January 2021 and managed to lose 80 lbs. No way I’d be able to pull that off working in the office.
• I may only live 25 minutes from the office, but that 25 minutes is also an hour of waking up, getting ready, potential traffic, etc. Waking up 10 minutes before work and opening the laptop has become so much better just for my general well-being. I have a Tesla, so the gas savings are already there, but it’s less wear and tear on the car. And, my commute working from home? Shutting the laptop.
• ‘Company culture’ is a cancer that we could well do to be rid of as a society. The people working for you are people, not your possession to indoctrinate into your weird ass ‘work culture’. Leave people alone, pay them to do a job, and back the out of their lives.
• My boss would force us to go to trendy restaurants and bars in downtown NYC after hours for “team building” bs. I’m 50 and i have no interest in adding hours to my already 1.5 hour commute so that they can pretend they are a 20 year old hipster.
• I wish I could quit my job. They refuse to allow work from home even part time after we go back. I am dreading returning to the office. My son was born last January. I’ve been home with him everyday since March 2020. Our bond is stronger than it would be if I only saw him from after work.

There are thousands more responses like this in this reddit post regarding people want to work from home permanently.

If employees do not get the flexibility of working from home that they have realized they need, for all reasons stated in this post, they will look for other jobs that will.

It’s reassuring to see that so many people want to work from home permanently; you are definitely not alone.

What are your thoughts on People want to work from home permanently? Let us know in the comments section below.

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