Dive Brief:
- U.S. workers are willing on average to accept a pay cut of up to 25% to secure a partially or fully remote job rather than in-office work, according to a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
- The size of the tolerated pay reduction is three to five times the amount measured by previous studies, the researchers found in a study of preferences among technology workers.
- “We attribute this discrepancy partly to methodological differences, suggesting that existing methods may understate preferences for remote work,” the researchers said.
Dive Insight:
Since the fading of the COVID-19 pandemic, a growing number of U.S. employers have coaxed and nudged workers from their homes back to the office.
The average office occupancy rate in the 10 largest U.S. cities increased to 51.5% this month from less than 20% in early 2022, according to swipe data from Kastle Systems.
In recent weeks President Donald Trump has led a push to return federal employees to on-site work.
In the Washington metro area, the occupancy rate surged 11.9 percentage points from Feb. 12 until Feb. 19, hitting 51.1%, according to Kastle Systems. The increase followed a Trump order to all federal employees last month to return to in-person work full time.
“We’re requiring them to show up to work or be terminated,” President Donald Trump said last month. “We think a very substantial number of people will not show up to work, and therefore our government will get smaller and more efficient,” he said, according to The Hill.
Nationwide, U.S. workers aged 20 to 64 spent one out of four paid workdays at home from 2023 to 2025, according to another recently published NBER working paper. Women and workers with children under eight are more likely to pursue the work-from-home option, according to the researchers.
Employers fall short of fulfilling the preference among employees for an in-home work arrangement, the researchers said.
“Desired WFH rates exceed actual rates in every major demographic group — more so for women, workers with young children and less educated workers,” the researchers said.
“Previous research demonstrates that most workers place a high value on the opportunity to work remotely some or all of the time,” they said.
While saving commuting time and boosting productivity, “WFH offers more flexibility in time use over the day and greater personal autonomy,” according to the researchers.
