Remote work options are going down, but workers are still clinging to them.
That's according to a May 16 Challenger, Gray & Christmas release shared with Becker's. Each quarter, the executive coaching firm surveys 3,000 job seekers nationwide to collect its data set; additionally, it surveyed 170 companies during April and May.
Here are five fast facts on the state of working from home, per the report:
1. In fall 2022, 13 percent of companies reported that most of their employees are in-office, although they allow remote work case-by-case. Now, that number is up to 32 percent.
2. Thirty-nine percent of companies currently offer fully remote options, down from 44 percent last fall and 61 percent in spring 2022.
3. The most common hybrid arrangement is in-office two days a week, with 29 percent of hybrid companies employing this method. Twenty-six percent require workers to come in three days a week, and 13 percent require four office days a week.
4. Relocation assistance is making a comeback, but workers are less likely to move for a job than ever. In the first quarter of 2023, only 1.6 percent of workers relocated for a job, down from 3.7 percent in the final quarter of 2022. It's a significant drop from the number of work-related relocations in the 1980s and 1990s — which hovered around 29 percent — and the early 2000s, where relocations averaged around 18 percent.
Workers' unwillingness to move may be exacerbated by their attraction to remote opportunities, the report says.
5. Although many workers are holding out hope for remote jobs, they soon "may have to concede some time to the office," according to Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.