Embracing Flexible Work Arrangements in American Companies

The American Opportunity Survey clarifies who works flexibly, how many people are given the choice to work from home, and how they view these options. McKinsey has kept researching the issue since we originally wrote this piece. For a synopsis of our most recent observations, keep reading. "How often do you report into the office?" Like the words "social distancing" and "PCR test" used in 2020, this question now epitomizes the postpandemic age. The response is Most likely less than you did in 2019, but more than you did during the early reintegration days following the height of the epidemic.

Our studies indicate that hybrid work

Is not going to go away. Office attendance is still around thirty percent below than prior to the epidemic. In metropolitan places like London, New York, and San Francisco with significant knowledge-economy professionals and pricey housing, attendance is especially low. Employees in these markets generally go into the office to interact with their teams.

Can distant work, then, be effective work? That relies on the person you inquire about. The main advantage of working remotely, according to eighty-three percent of employees we polled, is increased efficiency and productivity. Our study shows that on organizational health, even completely distant businesses with appropriate operational models can surpass their in-person counterparts. However, many businesses view this quite differently: only half of HR managers believe working remotely mostly benefits employee productivity.

Nicholas Bloom, a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and the William Eberle Professor of Economics at Stanford University, contends that "well-organized hybrid" work environments increase productivity. Under this situation, everyone arrives at the office on the same days so that staff members may make the most of their time together. Bloom argues that considering the time saved from not having to commute plus the advantage of working in a calmer, more controlled home setting results in a productivity increase of up to 5 percent. Of course, some houses are quieter and more under control than others.)

Who most values employee adaptability?

Most workers believe that the chance to work remotely is a main advantage of their organization. One advantage of hybrid and remote work is decreased burnout and tiredness, mentioned both men and women. Still, women—especially those with childbearing responsibilities—continue to value it more. Of mothers with young children, 38 percent said they would have had to cut their work hours or leave their companies without workplace flexibility. As they try to build real hybrid work models, many companies are still searching for the ideal mix. This could be the result of their reluctance to commit the leadership and financial means required to establish inclusive and magnetic workplaces. Still, the possible benefits—real estate savings, a more diverse and inclusive workforce, and better employee performance and satisfaction—may be well worth the labor.

Society was thrown into an unforeseen experiment in work from home when the COVID-19 epidemic closed offices all around. Nearly two-and- a-half years on, companies all around have developed new working rules that recognize that flexible work is no more a transitory epidemic reaction but rather a permanent aspect of the modern working environment.

Data on how flexible work fits into the life of a typical cross section of American workers in the United States are presented in the third edition of McKinsey's American Opportunity Survey. Working with the market-research company Ipsos, McKinsey questioned 25,000 Americans in spring 2022 (see sidebar, "About the survey").

Out of all the numbers this study produced, 58 percent is the most arresting one. That is the count of Americans who claimed to have at least one day a week the chance to work from home. Of the respondents, thirty-five percent say they could work five days a week from home. Respondents work in all kinds of employment, in every section of the nation and sector of the economy, including typically classified "blue collar" jobs that may be anticipated to necessitate on-site labor as well as "white collar" professionals, which makes these numbers more noteworthy.

Another surprising result of the poll: 87 percent of respondents seize the opportunity to work flexibly. This dynamic permeates geographies, sectors, and professions as well as demography. Born as a hurried response to a sudden crisis, the flexible working world has stayed as a sought-after workplace feature for millions. This marks a tectonic change in where, when, and how Americans want and are working.

Of job seekers, thirty-five percent can work from home full-time and twenty-three percent can do so part-time

Based on the representative sample, a surprising 58 percent of employed respondents—equivalent to 92 million people from a cross section of jobs and employment types—report having the opportunity to work from home either entirely or partially the week. We see these numbers as evidence that the working world and society itself have undergone a significant change following more than two years of studying remote work and anticipating that flexible working would survive during the acute periods of the COVID-19 epidemic.

Although our American Opportunity Survey from earlier years did not inquire about flexible work, an array of other research show that since 2019 flexible working has increased by anything from a third to tenfold. Of the responders, thirty-five percent claim they could work from home full-time. Still another 23 percent can work from home one to four days a week. Just 13% of working respondents indicate they could work remotely at least some of the time but choose not to.