👨🏻‍💻 Remote work totals in the US

Inside: tech job board with remote filter, distance from office grows, modern WFH vocab, BlackRock praises WFH, Deskpass for remote workers, and more.

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Good Morning,

Huge THANK YOU to everyone who took last week’s survey. Very grateful for your comments and pleasantly surprised at the impact this has had so far.

There won’t be any drastic changes based on the results, but it helps to know that finding new remote jobs is a continual priority for many readers. If anything, I expect I’ll include more job search resources in the “Stuff We Like” section at the bottom of these emails (like the additional job board featured today).

As a reminder, my door is always open for feedback; just reply to these emails with your comments anytime.

And of course, congrats to the mug winners!

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Remote Source Job Board

Featured companies:

TetraScience: 23 remote jobs
Enable: 44 remote jobs
Certa: 17 remote jobs

Need to Know

🧐 Who’s working remotely in the US?
Remote work totals have varied over the past few years, but now that we’ve had a few steady months, these figures are likely to be more accurate and reflective of short-term trends.

Of the 143 million workers in the US:

  • 80% work fully in-office

  • 10% work in hybrid arrangements

  • 10% work fully remotely

The New York Times analyzed recent monthly Census Bureau data to find these insights, and published a series of visuals where each square represents 50,000 US workers.

Below you’ll see all US workers sorted by education level and work arrangements. (New York Times)

✍️ New workforce vocabulary
Among other terms, WFH, Hybrid, RTO, Polywork, and Coffee Badging are mentioned as phrases that have gained new, impactful meaning in the last few years.

These authors attribute the uptick in these phrases to employees’ gain and loss of power in a short amount of time as a result of the pandemic. More employees were given the ability to WFH or work on a hybrid schedule, and those who had bad work environments were more prone to “quiet quitting” or “polywork” (working more than one remote job).

Then, with the insistence on in-person work by many old-fashioned leaders, RTO and “coffee-badging” (checking into the office briefly to satisfy office requirements) became more prevalent. As employees go through more unprecedented work experiences, they will continue to come up with new ways to define their specific work situations. (Los Angeles Times)

📈 BlackRock executive credits remote work with economic uptick
Rick Rieder, the global chief investment officer of fixed income at BlackRock, shared in an X post that WFH options have increased labor market participation, especially among female workers.

Benzinga also cites a Federal Reserve study about productivity we’ve shared before, and the enduring investor sentiment that remote work is here to stay, painting a picture of positive growth for the economy and the general remote work ecosystem.

Especially nice to hear, given that BlackRock CEO Larry Fink was knocking remote work productivity just last June. (Benzinga)

🚗 Americans now live much farther from their employers
In 2019, the median distance between employee home and company location was 10 miles. In 2023, that grew to 27 miles. Additionally, the share of workers living more than 50 miles from their company location grew by about 7X, going from .8% to 5.5%.

Additionally, the data proves some of the trends we’ve observed the past few years. Distance from company office is higher for women than men, higher for those in higher-earning roles, and highest for those in their 30s.

WFH Research partnered with Gusto, using their extensive employee data for this study. (WFH Research: Full Presentation)

🏙️ Big cities see a higher ratio of leaders today
ADP has tracked locations of employees within teams, and found that the “leadership ratio,” comparing the number of team leaders versus the number of individual contributors, has increased substantially in the last few years.

This is due to a range of factors, but remote work options and higher urban home prices are likely the leading factors for this drastic change. Eventually, assuming the trend continues, the biggest cities will be comprised mostly of those in manager roles. New York City, San Francisco, D.C., and Austin are some of the examples given. (Fortune)

Stuff We Like

👨🏻‍💻 Deskpass
Airbnb meets WeWork? This company allows you to access over 4,500+ coworking spaces in 220+ cities on days of your choosing. There are options for corporate teams or just individuals who want a change of scenery every now and then. (Deskpass)

💻 BuiltIn tech job board
This is one of the biggest tech-focused job boards in the world, and they have a remote filter you can use from your very first search, as seen below. Similar to Glassdoor, BuiltIn has general salary data on its site. And similar to LinkedIn, it features courses and certifications for continued learning. (BuiltIn)

🤝 Helping young, remote employees develop
Entering the workforce in any way can be daunting, but doing so as a remote worker can be even more difficult and confusing. This article shares what managers should look out for when leading younger remote workers, and suggests a few strategies for managing from afar that can have a positive impact on early-career employees. (Harvard Business Review)

*Denotes a sponsored or affiliate link. Any paid sponsorships, products, or services are thoroughly vetted by us before we make recommendations to readers.

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