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When You Want to Be Hybrid, But Your Boss Wants You in the Office

• Rachel Montañez

Five strategies for having an effective and empathetic conversation.

While recent years have seen back-to-work mandates following the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, they’ve also seen a growing number of workers shift to fully or partially remote. Perhaps you’re considering making this shift, too. Many factors make hybrid work schedules appealing — including caring for young children or aging parents, or the stress of long commutes — but flexible work is new and unfamiliar territory for most employers. When approaching your manager about pivoting to a hybrid work schedule, you may encounter resistance. It’s important to know where this resistance is coming from, and how you can calm fears about this change. This article outlines five strategies that will help you confidently and respectfully negotiate a hybrid work schedule.

Workplace flexibility ranks as the most important element to workers today, second to salary, according to global nonprofit The Conference Board . Hybrid work schedules, where individuals split time working from home and from the office, help put work in its rightful place. Such flexible working schedules allow people to prioritize personal goals like physical activity and spend more time with their family. This is significant given that Pew Research Center finds 73%  of U.S. adults say family time is one of the most important things in their life.

• Rachel Montañez is a keynote speaker on burnout and self-advocacy in the workplace. Her clients include a range of Fortune companies including Google, General Mills, L’Oréal, and Under Armour. She’s lived and worked in the U.K., South Korea, Japan, and her home base in the United States.

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Yahoo Finance

Hybrid work ramps up as employers push in-office time over work from home.

Remy Reya, deputy chief of staff at Compass Pro Bono, splits his work week between his studio apartment, or a local coffee shop, and the Washington, D.C., office where he typically works three days a week.

While his company mandates the in-person days, it works for him.

“Because I am hybrid, though, I have to work a little harder to connect with colleagues,” Reya told Yahoo Finance. “Carving out space to develop camaraderie with my teammates that helps us work better together is almost always easier to do in person.”

Many workers, like Reya, are part of the shift in the post-pandemic world of work where hybrid and remote arrangements have swapped places in terms of prevalence.

In February, 41% of workers with jobs that can be done remotely have a hybrid schedule, up from 35% in January 2022, according to a new Pew Research Center survey conducted of 5,188 U.S. adults working part or full time. At the same time, 35% remain fully remote, down from 43% a little over a year ago.

The reversal reflects how more employers are requiring more office time to foster in-person collaboration, even though many workers would prefer to spend fewer days away from home.

“Since late 2022, we are seeing more companies, both large and small, moving from hiring remote to making jobs hybrid,” Gwenn Rosener, partner, and co-founder of FlexProfessionals , a recruiting and staffing firm for the Boston and Washington, D.C., areas, told Yahoo Finance. “Positions that are 100% remote are becoming more elusive.”

‘Trying to reestablish internal cultures’

Among hybrid workers who are not self-employed, 63% say their employer requires them to work in person a certain number of days per week or month, Pew found.

Similarly, in early 2022, 56% of the job searches Rosener’s company supported were for fully remote jobs. Since the beginning of 2023, that number has dropped to 39%, she said.

Remote jobs are also becoming less attractive pay-wise, another nudge from employers to more in-person time. Payscale’s recent 2023 Compensation Best Practices Report found that about a quarter of employers surveyed pay employees who don’t come into an office less than those who do for the same position.

The impetus for the rise of hybrid: Flexprofessional’s clients are “trying to reestablish internal cultures and work processes that have eroded over the past several years of heavily remote work,” Rosener said. “Second, they feel that training and mentoring are more effective and efficient in-person, and for some types of jobs, that nothing beats in-person collaboration.”

For instance, a study co-authored by Jonathan Levav of Stanford Graduate School of Business and Melanie Brucks of Columbia Business School found that in-person teams generated more ideas than remote teams working on the same problem.

In a laboratory experiment administered at Stanford, half the teams worked alongside each other in person and half worked virtually. The in-person teams spawned 15% to 20% more ideas than their on-line teams, according to the researchers. In another experiment that tapped 1,490 engineers at a multinational corporation, in-person teams also popped up with more original ideas.

A potential reason online meetings produce a dearth of good ideas: “Videoconferencing hampers idea generation because it focuses communicators on a screen, which prompts a narrower cognitive focus,” the researchers concluded. “As virtual communicators narrow their visual scope to the shared environment of a screen, their cognitive focus narrows in turn. This narrowed focus constrains the associative process underlying idea generation.”

‘A major competitive advantage’

Still, unlike Reya, some candidates have been slow to accept the shift, and some have walked away from jobs requiring any in-office time, Rosener said. “For those who are open to hybrid arrangements, most are looking for at least three days remote.”

That jibes with Pew’s findings. Almost 3 in 5 of all hybrid workers said they work from home three or more days in a typical week.

But getting to that schedule can be fraught. When employers like Amazon announce that they want them back in the office it’s a point of contention. The majority of organizations (51%) surveyed by Payscale have been “experiencing resistance by their workers when asked to return” to traditional or even hybrid offices.

Amazon's top human-resources executive reportedly dismissed an internal petition signed by more than 30,000 employees over the company's return-to-office policy. Apple is tracking employee attendance and has warned staff who don't work from the office at least three days a week about possible repercussions, according to a report by AppleInsider.

“Companies that offer truly remote work, however, which is around 11% of those surveyed by Payscale, will still have a major competitive advantage this year in attracting and retaining talent,” Amy Stewart, associate director of content and editorial at PayScale, previously told Yahoo Finance.

This is why. A good portion of hybrid workers want more home time.

Just over a third of those currently working from home most of the time would like to do it all the time, if they had the choice, the Pew survey found. And among those who are working from home some of the time, half say they’d like to do so all or most of the time.

That’s probably why fully remote work is not going back into the bottle, an accommodation that continues to be much more common than before the pandemic, especially among workers.

“Among those with jobs that can be done from home, 35% are now working from home all the time,” Kim Parker, Pew Research Center’s director of social trends research, told Yahoo Finance. “That’s down from the height of the pandemic lockdowns, but still exponentially higher than the 7% who did so in pre-pandemic days.”

‘I am more productive at home’

That includes Beth Ferrentino, a material program manager for Raytheon Technologies, who lives in Mont Vernon, N.H., and works fully remote from her home. The arrangement enables her to be available for her kids in the mornings and afternoons, echoing many remote workers.

Seven in 10 of those who work from home at least some of the time reported that the largest upside is how the arrangement helps to balance their work and personal lives, according to the Pew survey. Fifty-six percent say it helps them get their work done and meet deadlines.

“It gives me flexibility,” Ferrentino told Yahoo Finance. “I find that I am more productive at home than in the office with a quiet workspace and few distractions.”

And despite concerns among employers over connectedness, Ferrentino fosters her professional relationships with coworkers via Teams messaging and Zoom meetings.

“We try to get together in person every quarter which helps build an in-person presence as well,” she said.

That echoes Pew’s findings, which show that remote workers are extremely or very satisfied with their relationships with coworkers at the same rates as those with hybrid or traditional in-office schedules. Still, 53% of folks who work from home at least some of the time say the arrangement does ding their ability to feel connected with co-workers.

“Work from the office can be more punctuated with conversation, but I've always appreciated the reminder that we're not meant to work nine hours straight in isolation every day,” Reya said. “Connecting with colleagues and managers in those unplanned moments can have benefits for our work, too, because many of those ‘side conversations’ have led to valuable insights about our shared work. Even though it can feel unnatural on Zoom, I try to make space for those moments when I'm working remotely, too.”

Kerry is a Senior Reporter and Columnist at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @kerryhannon .

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Remote and Hybrid Employees Report Improved Productivity, Satisfaction, and Engagement, According to IBI Analysis

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Oct 20, 2022, 10:18 ET

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Employees also report challenges; juggling family responsibilities, difficult communication with supervisors, increased hours

OAKLAND, Calif. , Oct. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Navigating a remote or hybrid workforce is a top challenge for many employers, as studies show that the number of employees who are choosing to work from home has sharply risen since 2020. To help employers better understand the challenges that American workers face in a hybrid/remote work environment, the Integrated Benefits Institute analyzed data on the successes and challenges faced by employees.

According to data from the Pew Research Center's American Trends Panel, employees who work remotely or in a hybrid environment indicate that they are more productive (21.8%), more satisfied (20.7%), and more highly engaged (50.8%).   

That's not to say there aren't challenges. Many employees are battling for a home office space (23%), constant interruptions (43%), slow internet connections, isolation, a house in disarray, and a seemingly endless workday. Twenty seven percent find it harder to balance work and family responsibilities, nearly half report spending too little time with their children under 18, and 40% indicate that they spend too little time with their spouse.  Some remote workers also feel disconnected from their colleagues (30%).

However, these challenges don't outweigh the benefits, it just took some time getting into the routine of remote work. Two years into the pandemic, 44% indicate that working from home has made it easier for them to get work done and meet deadlines, only 10% say this has been more difficult. And 64% of those who transitioned to a remote or hybrid work arrangement say it's easier now for them to balance work with their personal life.  

More remote employees indicated that they were highly engaged (22%) compared to hybrid or in-person, and more in-person employees indicated that they were on the lower end of the engagement scale. Industries with above average high engagement include banking, finance, accounting, real estate, and insurance (38%), followed by professional, scientific, and technical services (34%).

IBI spoke to corporate health benefits professionals in a 60-minute focus group discussion, and common themes emerged. Discussants recommended:

Train managers and supervisors: The people closest to the employees must be trained to recognize indicators of burnout and how to point them to resources that may help. This may be more difficult to identify in a hybrid/remote environment, so it is especially important to provide specific training for leadership to watch and act to protect their teams from these struggles.

Provide flexibility to employees: Most employees have a preference of where and when they want to work. One of the things that employers can do to help mitigate burnout is to give employees as much schedule and location flexibility as possible. According to Pew Research Center, 45% of people surveyed say they left their job because of a lack of flexibility.

Respect employees' boundaries: Regard for healthy boundaries should be baked into the culture. Employees need to be able to disconnect outside of working hours guilt-free. Encourage "no-work" vacation days.

Be aware of workloads: Managers should always be aware of workloads, especially if staffing has been reduced. Again, if there are signs of burnout, be proactive before the employee experiences negative health consequences.

Don't disincentivize employee loyalty:  In many cases, employees who stay with the company longer, are paid less than new employees. Optimize your compensation strategy by keeping salaries competitive.

For more information the report and infographic are available upon request, please contact Jennifer Santisi at  [email protected] .

The Integrated Benefit Institute's independent research, industry-leading tools and data resources help companies link health-related programs to the outcomes that maximize the contributions of people to productivity and business performance. Founded in 1995, IBI is a national nonprofit research organization and business association serving 1,200 employer and supplier members and their 22 million employees. For additional information, please visit  www.ibiweb.org  and follow us on  Twitter  and  LinkedIn.

Contact: Jennifer Santisi , [email protected]

SOURCE Integrated Benefits Institute

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Also from this source, lack of time, limited interest in offerings cited as top reasons employees don't participate in employer wellness programs, according to integrated benefits institute analysis.

ver the past couple of years, companies have invested heavily in workplace health and wellness programs (HWPs). According to health and productivity...

Two-Fold Increase in Absenteeism among Caregivers with a Child with Mental Health Needs, According to Integrated Benefits Institute Analysis

The interconnectedness of mental health challenges across families and workplaces underscores the importance of comprehensive mental health benefits...

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The Future of Work: Evidence-based considerations for hybrid and remote work

For NIH and many other organizations within the research community, flexible workplaces continue to be the new normal as we head into 2023. According to a 2022 survey conducted by Pew Research Center, 59% of workers who responded that their jobs could primarily be done from home were in fact working from home all or most of the time, while 61% of workers who had an established workplace outside of their home chose not to go to their workplace.

OBSSR prepared a summary of some of the current behavioral and social science evidence about two types of workplace flexibilities: hybrid (a mix of employees working in the office and from other locations) and remote (all employees working from other locations) work. The goal of the report is to help inform current practice as well as planning for the future of work. Multiple research tools, including PubMed, Google Scholar, Google, and Elicit, were used to inform this report. The review was not exhaustive, rather the goal was to capture the breadth of scientific literature to highlight relevant findings and research opportunities to advance and support decision making relevant to the future of hybrid and remote work.

The report, authored by OBSSR staff, is now available on our website: The Future of Work: Behavioral and Social Science-Informed Considerations for a Hybrid Work Environment . I encourage you to read the full report if you are interested in a more thorough review of works cited, historical context, and recommendations. For the purposes of this report, we focused on considerations for hybrid or remote work among “knowledge workers”, i.e., those employees whose jobs involve handling or using information, and who may rely primarily on use of a desktop computer or laptop for conducting their work, and for whom fully remote or hybrid work is a possibility based on job roles and responsibilities.

The report summarizes the evidence related to common concerns about a hybrid or fully remote workforce and the evidence related to 1) workforce development and 2) workplace effectiveness and employee wellbeing. The questions addressed in each section include:

Workforce Development :

• How might hybrid work impact issues of diversity, equity, accessibility, inclusion, and belonging?
• How might hybrid work impact recruitment and retention, and what factors merit additional considerations?
• What factors should be considered in creating a psychologically healthy work environment, and how might they be impacted by a hybrid work setting?
• What factors are related to digital literacy in the workplace and what can be done to increase digital literacy?
• How might leadership skills be cultivated across employee types and work statuses, and what factors might leaders need to consider when leading across mixed status (i.e., remote, in-person, and hybrid) teams?

Workplace Effectiveness and Employee Wellbeing :

• How might employee motivation and engagement be enhanced, and are there differences in remote, in-person, or hybrid settings?
• How might distractions and disruptions be minimized, particularly in virtual or hybrid settings?
• What are facilitators or barriers to employees in hybrid work environments successfully fostering collaboration and innovation?
• How can effective remote and hybrid teams be built and maintained?

While this report summarizes the evidence to date, there are clearly many additional questions that need to be answered to best navigate the future of workforce development, workplace effectiveness, and employee wellbeing. The report outlines some of these research directions. The behavioral and social sciences community is well-poised to help characterize the challenges and strengths of hybrid and remote work, inform change management strategies, and help develop a research agenda that empowers a more diverse, equitable, accessible, inclusive, and effective workplace.

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58% of Americans have hybrid work options, but challenges remain

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Ninety-two million (58%) of Americans have the opportunity to work from home part-time, the third edition of McKinsey’s American Opportunity Survey revealed. However, workers in the U.S. face inequalities and critical differences; the opportunity for hybrid work is not the same for everyone.

While hybrid work continues to expand to almost all sectors and industries, with 35% of those surveyed reporting to have the option to work from home five days a week, men report better remote-working opportunities than women. Additionally, younger, higher income and more educated workers are favored by the work marketplace.

The survey revealed that workers of different genders, ethnicities, ages, education and income levels, in significant percentages, all want to work from home.

Hybrid work: Differences and inequalities

The McKinsey report found that 61% of men say they were offered a remote work opportunity, while only 52% of women and 32% of transgender/nonbinary say they were offered flexible work options.

Age is another differentiator. Sixty-four percent of people aged 25 to 34 were offered a hybrid position, compared to 58% of people aged 35 to 54, and only 48% aged 55 to 64.

According to the survey, workers with an advanced education degree are favored by hybrid employers, with 76% of them saying they were offered hybrid work, compared to only 50% for an associate degree and 48% for workers with some college education.

Finally, 75% of high-income workers, making over $150,000 per year, were offered hybrid work compared to just 56% of people that make between $50,000 to $74,999.

McKinsey is not the only organization that found hybrid work inequalities in the U.S. labor market. In February 2022, Pew Research Center also found concerning differences.

“Higher shares of upper-income workers (67%) are working from home compared with middle (56 percent) and lower-income (53%) workers,” Pew Research Center said.

According to Pew Research, a college degree is also a defining factor. Sixty-five percent of college graduates are more likely to have a remote job option, against only 53% of people without a four-year college degree saying they worked from home, all or most of the time.

Workers’ concerns about being exposed to coronavirus have declined. Less than half, about 42% of workers cite it as a problem. Pew Research added that political differences are also shaping the hybrid work environment. Half of Democrats cite concerns about exposure to the coronavirus as a significant reason for choosing to work at home, while only 25% of Republicans feel the same way.

SEE: Hiring kit: Data scientist ( TechRepublic Premium)

The return to office face-off

In early 2022, companies began calling their employees back to the offices as the pandemic neared its second anniversary.

Top decision-makers are facing unprecedented times. While most workforces are now accustomed to working from home, companies are maneuvering through an economic slowdown, supply chain disruptions, inflation and a looming recession.

The Microsoft Annual Work Trend Index report found 54% of leaders say that the shift to hybrid work has negatively impacted productivity.

Citigroup, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, and recently SpaceX and Tesla are just some of the big names that rushed workers to the office. Some of these companies managed a successful return to work, others created tension among their workforces.

The Microsoft report added that 50% of leaders say their company requires—or has a plan to require— full-time in-person work in 2022. Manufacturing, retail and consumer goods industries have the highest in-person work expectations, all set above 53%.

Companies’ plans for a return-to-office are finding resistance and contrast with workers’ expectations. According to McKinsey’s survey, 87 percent of people would take flexible work options.

The blue-collar shift to hybrid work

Industry and type of job are one of the most critical factors creating inequalities for hybrid or remote work opportunities. Essential workers—from retail to healthcare and law enforcement—have been on the frontline of the pandemic, keeping the economy, supply chains and essential services running, while the world entered extended lockdowns. Meanwhile, other non-essential blue-collar industries that require in-person workers struggled.

SEE: The COVID-19 gender gap: Why women are leaving their jobs and how to get them back to work (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

The new McKinsey report revealed that this could be changing. According to their survey, blue-collar jobs are also shifting to hybrid work.

“What makes these numbers particularly notable is that respondents work in all kinds of jobs, in every part of the country and sector of the economy, including traditionally labeled ‘blue-collar’ jobs that might be expected to demand on-site labor as well as ‘white collar’ professions,” McKinsey said.

New trends like hybrid education and telemedicine have driven a transformation within their sectors. About half of education and library workers and 45% of healthcare professionals say they do some remote work. McKinsey’s survey assured that even food preparation and transportation professionals sometimes work from home, and that there is an ongoing rapid digital transformation affecting all industries, “even those with low work-from-home patterns.”

Key points: Employers and workers

With this new survey, employers are once again reminded that workers prefer hybrid work opportunities. “When offered, almost everyone takes the opportunity to work flexibly,” the survey noted.

While top companies undoubtedly lead a trend for a partial or complete return to the office, policies should be carefully examined as they may lead to tensions among workers, and affect talent retention and new talent acquisition.

In a job market that is in high demand for workers, employers must understand the talent pools’ flexibility expectations. McKinsey recommends employers to invest in technology and create integrated workspaces that can accommodate both on-site and remote workers.

Remote workers are also facing obstacles due to inadequate remote work conditions. Workers that have parenting demands often define a work environment that does not strike a work-life balance as hostile. Additionally, a back-to-back schedule, packed with video meetings, and the inability to truly connect with managers and teams has been repeatedly highlighted as unfavorable and affecting performance, often leading to mental and physical health problems.

Workers with children also cite the need for companies to include policies that meet parenting demands. Work environments that do not strike a work-life balance are considered hostile by workers.

“Given workers’ desire for flexibility, employers may have to explore ways to offer the flexibility employees want to compete for talent effectively,” the McKinsey survey said.

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Remote work statistics and trends in 2024

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One of the biggest impressions the COVID-19 pandemic left on the world was the change to the traditional workplace setup. Remote work is becoming commonplace in many industries, and an Upwork study suggests that 22% of the American workforce will be remote by 2025. 2  

Our team has conducted an online survey of 1,000 American white-collar workers, with the help of OnePoll, to learn more about remote working trends in the U.S. We also researched an array of statistics and other surveys to gain an understanding of what remote looks like across the country, how Americans feel about their current setup and what the future might hold for remote workers.

Read on for a comprehensive breakdown of remote work statistics and trends in 2024.

Key stats on remote working 

Here’s a summary of the key facts and figures on remote work in the U.S.:

• According to the Pew Research Center, around 22 million employed adults (aged 18 and over) in the U.S. work from home all the time, equal to roughly 14% of all employed adults. 4  
• Just over one-third of workers in the U.S. who can work remotely do so all the time — while 41% are at least part-time remote on a hybrid setup. 4
• More than one in five Americans will work remotely by 2025. 2
• According to a survey we conducted, 58% of white-collar workers prefer to work remotely at least three days a week.
• Only 16% of white-collar workers would consider a role that doesn’t offer any days of remote work. 1
• 42% of office workers would take a 10% pay cut to have the flexibility to work remotely. 1
• According to Upwork’s Future of Remote Work study, one-third of hiring managers said that productivity has increased due to remote work settings. 3

How many people work from home by demographics

With the help of tools like video conferencing and VPN services , those who can work from home often do. However, many still do not have that option. In fact, according to the Pew Research Center, three in five American workers do not have jobs that can be carried out remotely. 4  

Our survey shows that 33% of our respondents work remotely, and 33% work in a hybrid work environment. However, 36% of respondents would prefer working from home full-time instead of having a hybrid schedule, and 41% of respondents would be willing to consider a full-time, remote position if they were looking for a new position.

Let’s delve into the demographics of remote workers in the U.S.

How many people work from home by education level

Our survey of U.S. white-collar workers revealed that 36% of those who have reached, at most, a high school degree or equivalent are fully remote. This is proportionally more than any other group, with master’s degree holders having the lowest percentage of fully remote U.S. workers at 27%.

Those holding doctoral degrees are more likely to have a hybrid role than any other, with 52% of respondents saying they work both in-office and at home — proportionally higher than all other levels of education. Only 27% of those with high school degrees or equivalent work in hybrid models which is the lowest for all groups. 

How many people work from home by earnings

Our survey also showed that the percentage of people in each income group who were fully remote decreased as earnings increased. 

• Of those earning under $50,000 per year, 42% were fully remote. 
• Of those earning between $125,000 and $200,000 per year, only 18% were fully remote. 
• Of those earning over $200,000 per year, just over 25% were fully remote.

Hybrid work was most prevalent among those earning between $75,000 and $100,000 per year and least prevalent among those earning under $50,000 per year. 43% of people earning between $125,000 and $150,000 were entirely in the office — more than in any other salary group.

Which states have the most remote workers?

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Colorado has the highest proportion of remote workers, with 21.2% of people in the state working from home at least some of the time. 5 It is followed closely by: 5

• Washington at 20.5%. 
• Arizona at 19.2%.
• Oregon at 19%.

On the other side of the scale, Mississippi has the lowest proportion of remote workers, with only 5.5% carrying out work from home. 5 This is just ahead of: 5  

• North Dakota at 7.6%.
• Louisiana at 8.2%. 
• Arkansas at 8.8%.

How many people can work from home by occupation

According to McKinsey’s American Opportunity Survey, the industry with the most remote work available is the computer/mathematical field. 89% of employees in this field report being able to work remotely — 52% full-time and 37% part-time. 6 Other industries that report high percentages of remote work include: 6

• Business/financial operations: 86%; 61% full-time and 25% part-time.
• Architecture/engineering: 82%; 47% full-time and 35% part-time.
• Arts/design/entertainment/sports/media: 80%; 53% full-time and 27% part-time.
• Legal: 76%; 46% full-time and 30% part-time.

When it comes to full-time remote work, business/financial operations (61%) and arts/design/entertainment/sports/media (53%) offer the most options, followed by computer/mathematical (52%) and architecture/engineering (47%). 6

With regard to part-time remote work, the computer/mathematical field leads the way with 37% of respondents saying it is available to them. This is followed by architecture/engineering (35%) and community/social service (34%). 6

According to the same report, the industries and occupations with the least amount of remote work available include: 6

• Protective services: 28%; 22% full-time and 6% part-time.
• Production: 29%; 15% full-time and 14% part-time.
• Food preparation/serving: 29%; 14% full-time and 15% part-time.
• Transportation/moving material: 29%; 20% full-time and 9% part-time. 
• Farming/fishing/forestry: 37%; 17% full-time and 20% part-time.

Overall, the American Opportunity Survey reports that 35% of respondents have access to full-time remote work, while 23% of respondents have access to part-time remote work. This represents a total of 58% of respondents having access to some type of remote work. 6

Remote work survey 

Our survey showed that the majority of white-collar workers (58%) would prefer to work from home at least three days per week in their current role, with 36% wanting to work all days of the week remotely — the most popular option. 

This is just over double the amount that wanted to work five days a week in the office (17%). But overall, the least popular options among white-collar workers were spending four days at home and one in the office and vice versa, both only getting 9% of votes from respondents.

However, when looking for a new role, 41% of respondents said they’d consider a job that was fully remote — more than any other option. The least popular option among respondents was one day at home and four in the office, with only one in ten saying they’d consider a role with this split. 

Over a third of all respondents said they would likely look for a new job if their current employer no longer offered remote work. 68% of white-collar workers report that remote work has positively impacted their lives, and only 5% said it has negatively impacted them. 

The pros and cons of remote working

The rise of remote work dramatically changed the job landscape and how people view their work-life balance. While remote work has many benefits, it’s important to consider some of the drawbacks people have experienced, too.

Benefits of remote work

A better work-life balance was voted the top benefit of remote work by 59% of respondents in our survey. It was closely followed by:

• Saving time on commuting (55%).
• Having a more comfortable workspace (54%).
• Reduced spending on travel and eating out (43%).

It’s not just the employees themselves who reap the benefits of remote work — companies and employers are likely to see improved employee retention when offering the ability to work from home. 

A study from McKinsey showed that flexible working arrangements are the third-biggest motivator for employees finding a new job. 6 More than one in five respondents agreed with this, behind only: 6

• Greater pay or better hours (47%). 
• Better career opportunities (27%).

However, it is ahead of: 6  

• Health insurance (16%). 
• Predictable hours (15%). 
• Sustainability (15%). 

According to Owl Labs' State of Hybrid Work 2023, 26% of full-time office workers changed jobs in 2023, compared to only 17% of hybrid or remote workers. 7

Challenges of remote working

Remote working also presents unique challenges to employees. According to our study, the biggest drawback viewed by employees in the U.S. is feeling isolated from their team (34%). Some of the other drawbacks include: 

• Having fewer opportunities to learn from others (25%). 
• Having difficulty unplugging from work (22%).
• Having less access to resources and equipment (21%).
• Feeling more depressed (11%).
• Feeling stressed or burnt out (9%).

The drawbacks that affected employees the least included:

• More difficult to manage or be managed (7%).
• Decreased creativity or innovation (8%).
• Lack of a dedicated workspace (8%).

According to research from Owl Labs, 68% of managers believe employees who work part-time or full-time remotely miss out on informal feedback. Technical difficulties can also play a part, with 80% of workers experiencing lost time in meetings. 7  

Work-from-home productivity statistics 

According to Quantum Workplace research, hybrid employees had the highest level of engagement, with more than four in five reporting “high engagement” compared to 78% of remote employees and 72% of on-site employees. 8 Additionally, an Upwork study on the future of remote work found that 32.2% of hiring managers saw increased productivity, while 22.5% said productivity had fallen. 3

Just 16% of white-collar workers in our survey said they’re more productive in the office, compared to 46% who said they were more productive at home. 38% of respondents said they were much more likely to work longer hours if remote. 

According to Owl Labs, 38% of hybrid workers said an office setting is best for meeting new people. 30% said it is best for meetings, and another 25% said they prefer an office setting when collaborating with others. Hybrid workers also said they feel just as productive or even more productive when working in a hybrid environment. 7

Remote work trends

In a survey run by Resume Builder, only 4% of respondents said their company never planned to have a physical workspace again. 20% planned to have one by the end of 2024, and 64% said their company currently has a physical workspace. 9  

Just over half (51%) of respondents also said their company requires some or all employees to be in the office. 39% of respondents said this would be the case for their organizations by the end of 2024, while only 8% planned for this to happen by 2025 and beyond. 9 Out of respondents who said their companies planned a return to office in 2024, just under one-fifth say employees will be required to work in the office five days a week. 9

Despite this, 28% of respondents said those who don’t comply with a return to office policy will be threatened with termination of employment by their company. 9

In a survey by Gallup, four in five chief human resources offices of Fortune 500 companies said remote work flexibility was there to stay for at least the next 12 months. 10 The survey also revealed that just under one-third of employees working on a hybrid model had full autonomy to choose their office schedule compared to half of the employees on a set schedule. 10

28% said they had to be in the office on specific days, while 22% said they only had to meet a minimum day quote but could choose the specific days they worked. 10

According to Flex Index, the activities that attracted employees the most were: 11

• Teamwork (32.4%). 
• Socializing (27.5%).
• Managing/mentoring (9.5%).

Other activities included: 

• Productivity (4%).
• Concentration (2.3%).
• Key decisions (1.6%.)

Work-from-home depression

A survey by FlexJobs showed that 93% of working professionals said their mental health was positively impacted by working from home, 12 while 90% also said it positively affected their physical health. 13 Additionally, 96% of workers believed being able to work from home, whether hybrid or fully remote, would be the best option when considering their mental health. 14

Our survey found that — among white-collar workers who work fully remote or hybrid schedules — 40% feel less stress and burnout, and 31% feel less depression and anxiety. However, working from home still comes with its own challenges to mental health. 

Here are our best tips for keeping a positive outlook while working remotely:

• Have a regular routine: While remote working might allow you more time for yourself, having a routine will help you stay consistent. Sticking to regular patterns as closely as possible is ideal, especially for your sleep schedules.
• Take breaks: While it can be tempting to stay stuck to your laptop when you’re at home, it’s essential to take regular breaks — even for five to ten minutes every hour. Spending time outside is particularly useful — a quick walk in the park can do wonders for your mental health.
• Make a dedicated space for work: When you work from home, it can be harder to keep your work and home life separate, so setting up a dedicated workspace can help prevent the lines from becoming blurred. Set boundaries so no one disturbs you during the day, and when you’re done working, you won’t feel like you’re still in the office or in “work mode.”
• Stay connected to your colleagues and friends: Isolation is a big problem with remote work, so ensure you regularly stay in touch with colleagues and friends you might not have the chance to speak to outside of crossing paths in the office.
• Know when to switch off: Lastly, it’s essential to switch off when your day ends, as letting work bleed into your home time can lead to feeling suffocated and unable to escape. While responding to messages and being available at home might be easier, remember to enjoy your free time, too.

Methodology

Our online survey was commissioned by USA TODAY Blueprint and conducted by market research company OnePoll in accordance with the Market Research Society’s code of conduct. It was conducted among 1,000 American white-collar workers from Jan. 31 to Feb. 6, 2024. The survey collected information on respondents’ age, gender, location, employment status, type of work, education and individual income. It also asked whether or not respondents worked at home, in a hybrid environment or in an office.

It also asked about the main benefits and drawbacks of working from home and whether a respondent’s career has been positively or negatively impacted by remote work, among other questions. We compiled these results to get a better picture of remote working in the United States, including productivity, how it affects employees’ physical and mental health and their attitudes about future job opportunities regarding working models.

The margin of error for this survey is plus or minus 3.1 points with 95% confidence. This survey was overseen by the OnePoll research team — this team is a member of the MRS and has corporate membership with the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR).

We also used reputable sources like the U.S. Census Bureau, Gallup and Pew Research Center to further discuss remote work statistics as a whole. This, combined with our survey, gives readers a comprehensive overview of the status of remote working in the U.S.

• USA Today Blueprint - Remote working statistics survey (conducted by OnePoll).
• Upwork - Upwork Study Finds 22% of American Workforce Will Be Remote by 2025 .
• Upwork - The Future of Remote Work .
• Pew Research Center - About a third of U.S. workers who can work from home now do so all the time .
• U.S. Census Bureau - DP03 Selected Economic Characteristics .
• McKinsey & Company - Americans are embracing flexible work—and they want more of it .
• Owl Labs - State of Hybrid Work 2023 .
• Quantum Workplace - The State of Remote Work .
• Resume Builder - 90% of Companies Will Return to Office By the End of 2024 .
• Gallup - The Future of the Office Has Arrived: It’s Hybrid .
• Flex Index - The Flex Report .
• FlexJobs - Losing Talent to Return-to-Office Mandates: Insights From the FlexJobs Survey . 
• FlexJobs - Remote Work Statistics & Trends: The Latest in Remote Work .
• FlexJobs - Exploring the Impact of Remote Work on Mental Health and the Workplace . 

Blueprint is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment advisor. The information provided is for educational purposes only and we encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding specific financial decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Blueprint has an advertiser disclosure policy . The opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Blueprint editorial staff alone. Blueprint adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. The information is accurate as of the publish date, but always check the provider’s website for the most current information.

Mehdi is a writer and editor with many years of personal finance expertise under his belt. He's a spirited money-saver, with a passion for making personal finance accessible and manageable. When he isn't writing, Mehdi likes to read about history and travel, hike along coastlines and in forests, and watch his beloved team Manchester United underperform.

Sierra Campbell is a small business editor for USA Today Blueprint. She specializes in writing, editing and fact-checking content centered around helping businesses. She has worked as a digital content and show producer for several local TV stations, an editor for U.S. News & World Report and a freelance writer and editor for many companies. Sierra prides herself in delivering accurate and up-to-date information to readers. Her expertise includes credit card processing companies, e-commerce platforms, payroll software, accounting software and virtual private networks (VPNs). She also owns Editing by Sierra, where she offers editing services to writers of all backgrounds, including self-published and traditionally published authors.

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Americans are embracing flexible work—and they want more of it

Get the latest.

July 10, 2024

In the time since we first published this article, McKinsey has continued to explore the topic. Read on for a summary of our latest insights.

“How often do you go into the office?” Today, this question typifies the postpandemic era, just as the phrases “social distancing” and “PCR test” did in 2020. The answer? Probably more than you did during those early days of reentry after the pandemic’s peak, but probably less than you did in 2019.

Our research shows that hybrid work is here to stay . Office attendance remains roughly 30 percent lower than it was before the pandemic. Attendance is especially low in metropolitan areas like London, New York, and San Francisco with large shares of knowledge-economy workers and expensive housing. In these markets, when employees do go into the office, the primary reason is to connect with their teams.

But can remote work be productive work? That depends on whom you ask. Eighty-three percent of employees we surveyed cite the ability to work more efficiently and productively as a primary benefit of working remotely. Our research indicates that even fully remote companies   with the right operating models can outperform their in-person peers  on organizational health. But many companies see this quite differently : only half of HR leaders say employee productivity is a primary benefit of working remotely.

According to Nicholas Bloom, the William Eberle Professor of Economics at Stanford University and a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, there is a productivity benefit from what he calls “ well-organized hybrid ” work environments. In this scenario, everybody comes into the office on the same days, allowing employees to maximize their time together. When you factor in the time saved from not having to commute, as well as the benefit of working in a quieter and more controlled home environment, the result, says Bloom, is a productivity improvement of up to 5 percent . (Of course, some homes are quieter and more controlled than others.)

Who values workplace flexibility the most? The majority of employees say that the opportunity to work remotely is a top company benefit. Both women and men cite less fatigue and burnout as a benefit of hybrid and remote work. But women, particularly those with childcare duties, continue to prize it more. In fact, 38 percent  of mothers with young children say that without workplace flexibility they would have had to reduce their work hours or leave their companies.

Many organizations are still trying to find the right balance as they attempt to create true hybrid work models. This may be because they are hesitant to expend the financial and leadership resources necessary to create magnetic and inclusive work environments. But the potential upsides—including real estate savings, a more diverse and inclusive workforce, and improved employee satisfaction and performance—may be well worth the effort .

Articles referenced include:

• Women in the Workplace 2023 , October 2023
• How hybrid work has changed the way people work, live, and shop , July 2023
• Is your workplace ready for flexible work? A survey offers clues , June 2023
• Forward Thinking on how to get remote working right with Nicholas Bloom , February 2023

When the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered workplaces nationwide, society was plunged into an unplanned experiment in work from home. Nearly two-and-a-half years on, organizations worldwide have created new working norms  that acknowledge that flexible work is no longer a temporary pandemic response but an enduring feature of the modern working world.

About the survey

This article is based on a 25-minute, online-only Ipsos poll conducted on behalf of McKinsey between March 15 and April 18, 2022. A sample of 25,062 adults aged 18 and older from the continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii was interviewed online in English and Spanish. To better reflect the population of the United States as a whole, post hoc weights were made to the population characteristics on gender, age, race/ethnicity, education, region, and metropolitan status. Given the limitations of online surveys, 1 “Internet surveys,” Pew Research Center. it is possible that biases were introduced because of undercoverage or nonresponse. People with lower incomes, less education, people living in rural areas, or people aged 65 and older are underrepresented among internet users and those with high-speed internet access.

The third edition of McKinsey’s American Opportunity Survey  provides us with data on how flexible work fits into the lives of a representative cross section of workers in the United States. McKinsey worked alongside the market-research firm Ipsos to query 25,000 Americans in spring 2022 (see sidebar, “About the survey”).

The most striking figure to emerge from this research is 58 percent. That’s the number of Americans who reported having the opportunity to work from home at least one day a week. 1 Many of the survey questions asked respondents about their ability or desire to “work from home.” “Work from home” is sometimes called “remote work,” while arrangements that allow for both remote and in-office work are often interchangeably labeled “hybrid” or “flexible” arrangements. We prefer the term flexible, which acknowledges that home is only one of the places where work can be accomplished and because it encompasses a variety of arrangements, whereas hybrid implies an even split between office and remote work. Thirty-five percent of respondents report having the option to work from home five days a week. What makes these numbers particularly notable is that respondents work in all kinds of jobs, in every part of the country and sector of the economy, including traditionally labeled “blue collar” jobs that might be expected to demand on-site labor as well as “white collar” professions.

About the authors

This article is a collaborative effort by André Dua , Kweilin Ellingrud , Phil Kirschner , Adrian Kwok, Ryan Luby, Rob Palter , and Sarah Pemberton as part of ongoing McKinsey research to understand the perceptions of and barriers to economic opportunity in America. The following represents the perspectives of McKinsey’s Real Estate and People & Organizational Performance Practices.

Another of the survey’s revelations: when people have the chance to work flexibly, 87 percent of them take it. This dynamic is widespread across demographics, occupations, and geographies. The flexible working world was born of a frenzied reaction to a sudden crisis but has remained as a desirable job feature for millions. This represents a tectonic shift in where, when, and how Americans want to work and are working.

The following six charts examine the following:

• the number of people offered flexible working arrangements either part- or full-time
• how many days a week employed people are offered and do work from home
• the gender, age, ethnicity, education level, and income of people working or desiring to work flexibly
• which occupations have the greatest number of remote workers and how many days a week they work remotely
• how highly employees rank flexible working arrangements as a reason to seek a new job
• impediments to working effectively for people who work remotely all the time, part of the time, or not at all

Flexible work’s implications for employees and employers—as well as for real estate, transit, and technology, to name a few sectors—are vast and nuanced and demand contemplation.

1. Thirty-five percent of job holders can work from home full-time, and 23 percent can do so part-time

A remarkable 58 percent of employed respondents—which, extrapolated from the representative sample, is equivalent to 92 million people from a cross section of jobs and employment types—report having the option to work from home for all or part of the week. After more than two years of observing remote work and predicting that flexible working would endure  after the acute phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, we view these data as a confirmation that there has been a major shift in the working world and in society itself.

We did not ask about flexible work in our American Opportunity Survey in past years, but an array of other studies indicate that flexible working has grown by anywhere from a third to tenfold since 2019. 1 Rachel Minkin et al., “How the coronavirus outbreak has—and hasn’t—changed the way Americans work,” Pew Research Center, December 9, 2020; “Telework during the COVID-19 pandemic: Estimates using the 2021 Business Response Survey,” US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Monthly Labor Review, March 2022.

Thirty-five percent of respondents say they can work from home full-time. Another 23 percent can work from home from one to four days a week. A mere 13 percent of employed respondents say they could work remotely at least some of the time but opt not to.

Forty-one percent of employed respondents don’t have the choice. This may be because not all work can be done remotely  or because employers simply demand on-site work. Given workers’ desire for flexibility, employers may have to explore ways to offer the flexibility employees want  to compete for talent effectively.

2. When offered, almost everyone takes the opportunity to work flexibly

The results of the survey showed that not only is flexible work popular, with 80 million Americans engaging in it (when the survey results are extrapolated to the wider population), but many want to work remotely for much of the week when given the choice.

Eighty-seven percent of workers offered at least some remote work embrace the opportunity and spend an average of three days a week working from home. People offered full-time flexible work spent a bit more time working remotely, on average, at 3.3 days a week. Interestingly, 12 percent of respondents whose employers only offer part-time or occasional remote work say that even they worked from home for five days a week. This contradiction appears indicative of a tension between how much flexibility employers offer and what employees demand .

3. Most employees want flexibility, but the averages hide the critical differences

There’s remarkable consistency among people of different genders, ethnicities, ages, and educational and income levels: the vast majority of those who can work from home do so. In fact, they just want more flexibility: although 58 percent of employed respondents say they can work from home at least part of the time, 65 percent of employed respondents say they would be willing to do so all the time.

However, the opportunity is not uniform: there was a large difference in the number of employed men who say they were offered remote-working opportunities (61 percent) and women (52 percent). At every income level, younger workers were more likely than older workers to report having work-from-home opportunities.

People who could but don’t work flexibly tend to be older (19 percent of 55- to 64-year-olds offered remote work didn’t take it, compared with 12 to 13 percent of younger workers) or have lower incomes (17 percent of those earning $25,000 to $74,999 per year who were offered remote work didn’t take it, compared with 10 percent of those earning over $75,000 a year). While some workers may choose to work on-site because they prefer the environment, others may feel compelled to because their home environments are not suitable, because they lack the skills and tools to work remotely productively, or because they believe there is an advantage to being on-site. Employers should be aware that different groups perceive and experience remote work differently and consider how flexible working fits with their diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies .

4. Most industries support some flexibility, but digital innovators demand it

The opportunity to work flexibly differs by industry and role within industries and has implications for companies competing for talent. For example, the vast majority of employed people in computer and mathematical occupations report having remote-work options, and 77 percent report being willing to work fully remotely. Because of rapid digital transformations across industries , even those with lower overall work-from-home patterns may find that the technologists they employ demand it.

A surprisingly broad array of professions offer remote-work arrangements. Half of respondents working in educational instruction and library occupations and 45 percent of healthcare practitioners and workers in technical occupations say they do some remote work, perhaps reflecting the rise of online education and telemedicine. Even food preparation and transportation professionals said they do some work from home.

5. Job seekers highly value having autonomy over where and when they work

The survey asked people if they had hunted for a job recently or were planning to hunt for one. Unsurprisingly, the most common rationale for a job hunt was a desire for greater pay or more hours, followed by a search for better career opportunities. The third-most-popular reason was looking for a flexible working arrangement.

Prior McKinsey research has shown that for those that left the workforce during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, workplace flexibility was a top reason that they accepted new jobs . Employers should be aware that when a candidate is deciding between job offers with similar compensation, the opportunity to work flexibly can become the deciding factor.

6. Employees working flexibly report obstacles to peak performance

The survey asked respondents to identify what made it hard to perform their jobs effectively. Those working in a flexible model were most likely to report multiple obstacles, followed by those working fully remotely, and then by those working in the office. Our research doesn’t illuminate the cause and effect here: it could be that people who face barriers are more likely to spend some time working from home. It could also be that workers who experience both on-site and at-home work are exposed to the challenges of each and the costs of regularly switching contexts.

Some obstacles were reported at much higher rates by specific groups: for example, about 55 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds offered the option to work fully remotely say mental-health issues  impacted their ability to perform effectively, though only 17 percent of people aged 55 to 64 said the same. Workers with children at home  who were offered full-time remote-work options were far more likely than their peers without children to report that problems with physical health or a hostile work environment had a moderate or major impact on their job.

The results of the American Opportunity Survey reflect sweeping changes in the US workforce, including the equivalent of 92 million workers offered flexible work, 80 million workers engaged in flexible work, and a large number of respondents citing a search for flexible work as a major motivator to find a new job.

Competition for top performers and digital innovators demands that employers understand how much flexibility their talent pool is accustomed to and expects. Employers are wise to invest in technology, adapt policies, and train employees to create workplaces that integrate people working remotely and on-site (without overcompensating by requiring that workers spend too much time in video meetings ). The survey results identify obstacles to optimal performance that underscore a need for employers to support workers with issues that interfere with effective work. Companies will want to be thoughtful about which roles can be done partly or fully remotely—and be open to the idea that there could be more of these than is immediately apparent. Employers can define the right metrics and track them to make sure the new flexible model is working.

At a more macro level, a world in which millions of people no longer routinely commute has meaningful implications for the commercial core in big urban centers and for commercial real estate overall. Likewise, such a world implies a different calculus for where Americans will live and what types of homes they will occupy. As technology emerges that eliminates the residual barriers to more distributed and asynchronous work, it could become possible to move more types of jobs overseas, with potentially significant consequences.

In time, the full impact of flexible working will be revealed. Meanwhile, these data give us early insight into how the working world is evolving.

For more on the imperative for flexible work and how organizations can respond, please see McKinsey.com/featured-insights/ Future-of-the-workplace .

André Dua is a senior partner in McKinsey’s Miami office;  Kweilin Ellingrud is a senior partner in the Minneapolis office;  Phil Kirschner is a senior expert in the New York office, where Adrian Kwok is an associate partner and Ryan Luby is a senior expert; Rob Palter is a senior partner in the Toronto office; and Sarah Pemberton is a manager in the Hong Kong office.

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Hybrid Work Statistics: What the Numbers Say About Today's Workforce

By Mariah Collins, SHRM-CP on Dec 11 , 2023 5 min read 0 comment(s)

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Hybrid work statistics have become a focal point in understanding workplace evolution, a concept that was relatively unheard of just four years ago. Prior to the pandemic, the hybrid work model wasn’t a significant trend, making it challenging to gauge its current popularity accurately.

However, research, including studies by the Pew Research Center, indicates that hybrid and remote work structures have seen an exponential increase, growing three to tenfold since 2019.

In the post-pandemic era, small businesses are closely analyzing the impact of new employee flexibility expectations. Hybrid work statistics show that offering hybrid working options can be a powerful tool for recruitment and retention in the competitive talent market.

When considering whether to maintain your current work model or implement a new one, having access to robust data and well-researched insights is crucial. This post aims to guide you through what the human resources community understands about hybrid work and what aspects are still being explored.

Although the decision to offer hybrid or remote work ultimately rests with each business, insights from hybrid work statistics and expertise from HR professionals , such as those at Axcet HR Solutions, can aid in making a well-informed decision.

RELATED: How to Know if Remote Employees Are Working >>

Hybrid Work Statistics

When it comes to making an ultimate decision regarding whether to allow hybrid work at your small business, numbers can be very illuminating. The 2022 edition of consultancy, McKinsey & Co.’s American Opportunity Survey , provides valuable insights and hybrid work statistics gathered from an analysis of 25,000 employee experiences across the United States.

Here are some of the most helpful hybrid work statistics for managers that were uncovered by this survey: 

Over half of Americans utilize hybrid work 

Over a third of americans work fully remotely , hybrid and remote workers include blue-collar jobs , hybrid work options are appreciated by employees , some employees test hybrid work boundaries,  age and income factors on hybrid and remote work .

Industries Most Likely to Offer Hybrid Work

As the hybrid work model statistics above show, offering hybrid work can be a fantastic way to draw in talent. Employees are willing to make big changes—even leave their current jobs—for the option to work from home at least part of the time. 

A  Bankrate survey , whose details were published in The Hill, reveals that almost three-quarters (73%) of employees “who support a hybrid work schedule similarly said they would make sacrifices to make it happen. Another 37% said they would change jobs or industries for hybrid work.” 

As you’re deciding whether to implement a hybrid work schedule, it’s helpful to gather hybrid work statistics from businesses around you and benchmark your offerings against the competition. A great first step is to compare your work models to those of other businesses, not just in your area, but also in your industry. An experienced professional employer organization ( PEO ) can help you conduct benchmarking analysis specific to your area. 

In the meantime, here are the facts at an industry level as reported by McKinsey & Co.: 

Half or more of the workers in these industries are remote or hybrid: 

• Computer/mathematical (89%) 
• Business/financial (86%)
• Architecture/engineering (82%) 
• Art/design/entertainment/media (80%) 
• Legal (76%) 
• Community/ social service (74%) 
• Social science (73%) 
• Management (72%) 
• Office support/admin work (60%) 
• Education/library (50%) 

Less than half of the workers in these industries are remote or hybrid: 

• Healthcare (45%) 
• Sales (45%) 
• Cleaning/maintenance (44%) 
• Transportation (29%) 
• Food services (29%) 
• Production (29%) 

How to Successfully Implement a Hybrid Work Model

Research and consulting firm Gartner found that “the most successful hybrid models encompass three main categories of explicit norms.” The ones that get it right: 

Increase visibility

Enable flexibility, foster connections.

RELATED: Remote Work Is Here to Stay - 5 Ways Employers Can Make It a Win >>

How to Implement a Hybrid Work Model: HR Experts 

No matter where you are in the process of exploring hybrid working flexibility, the HR experts at Axcet HR Solutions are here to help. Whether you’re looking to craft a hybrid work policy that’s perfect for recruiting and retaining the best talent, if you’d like to benchmark what your business can offer in comparison to others, or if you’re considering leadership training before moving toward a hybrid work model, you can lean on us. 

Find out more about how Axcet HR Solutions can help you with a full suite of HR tasks, including decoding the hybrid work model.  Reach out to our experienced HR consultants today . 

Written by Mariah Collins, SHRM-CP

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The Future of Hybrid Work? A New Poll Confirms What We Knew All Along. Businesses must act now to adapt or risk becoming obsolete.

By Gleb Tsipursky Edited by Maria Bailey Apr 18, 2023

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

As the world moves forward, so too does the way we work. In the era of technological advancements and shifting workplace expectations, a new Pew Research Center poll has confirmed that full-time in-office work for remote-capable employees is now a relic of the past. The poll results reveal that a significant plurality of remote-capable employees are working on a hybrid model , coming into the office for two or fewer days per week, while over a third are working fully remotely.

As a seasoned expert in the realm of hybrid and remote work , I can confidently say that the future of work is hybrid, and businesses must adapt or risk becoming obsolete.

The poll that put the nail in the coffin for full-time office work

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Need cash? These cities will pay you to move there

In an era defined by the freedom and flexibility of remote work, the prospect of relocating for professional pursuits has taken on new dimensions. Across the United States, a fascinating trend is emerging: Many cities are actively incentivizing remote workers to move to their location. According to Pew Research Center , about 22 million employed adults in the U.S. work from home all the time, making them a major demographic force. Cities recognize that attracting these workers could benefit local businesses, schools and culture.

Remote workers are increasingly drawn to the prospect of setting up shop in new cities, especially given the prevalence of relocation packages that soften the costs of hiring a moving company and finding a new home. Below, ConsumerAffairs highlights the groundbreaking cities, regions and states in the U.S. that are incentivizing remote workers to relocate and revitalize their local economies.

Key Insights

• Multiple cities in the U.S. are offering compensation to relocate in 2024.
• With a population of 413,066, Tulsa, Oklahoma, is the largest city that will pay you to move there.
• West Virginia pays remote workers the most to relocate there, with a maximum compensation package of $20,000.
• Some states, like Kentucky and West Virginia, are home to several cities offering incentives to remote workers.

Which U.S. cities will pay you to move there?

An increasing number of U.S. cities have launched relocation incentive programs aimed at attracting remote workers. These initiatives offer financial incentives to individuals willing to move and work remotely from their locations. Below, we explore the cities across the country that offer cash compensation, providing an overview of each city’s draw and the benefits of their respective programs.

Topeka, Kansas

• Maximum compensation: $15,000
• Where to apply: Choose Topeka
• Median rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $675
• Population: 126,587

Topeka’s relocation incentive program is called Choose Topeka . It is led by the GO Topeka organization and seeks to foster economic success for companies and citizens in the Topeka area. The program aims to capitalize on the community’s unique strengths through various economic development programs.

One key aspect of the program is that it’s not just for remote workers; it provides an opportunity for all professionals to relocate to Topeka and Shawnee County while receiving financial incentives. Participants can receive up to $15,000 in funds to support their relocation.

GO Topeka collaborates with Shawnee County employers to identify and select talented individuals willing to make Topeka their new home. There are added incentives for employers, too: In order to encourage long-term employee retention, GO Topeka will reimburse employers with a 50% match of the total qualified relocation incentive once their newly relocated employees have been with them for one year.

Noblesville, Indiana

• Maximum compensation $15,000
• Where to apply: Make My Move
• Median rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $1,350
• Population: 69,604

Noblesville, Indiana, presents an excellent opportunity for remote workers seeking the perfect blend of small-town charm and big-city convenience. As the county seat of Hamilton County, just north of Indianapolis, Noblesville offers proximity to urban amenities while maintaining a quaint atmosphere.

Through a partnership with Make My Move, the city has rolled out a robust relocation incentive program to attract talent to its community. Remote workers who choose to make Noblesville their home can earn a $5,000 relocation grant and an array of added perks, including a one-year membership to COhatch Noblesville coworking space and VIP concert experiences at the Ruoff Music Center. With a value of $15,000, this comprehensive package reflects Noblesville’s commitment to fostering a welcoming environment for new residents.

Mattoon, Illinois

• Maximum compensation: $11,707
• Where to apply: Make My Move (not currently accepting new applications)
• Median rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $599
• Population: 16,870

Mattoon is an inviting destination for remote workers, especially those with families. According to Move to Mattoon , the city is known for its exceptional educational offerings and vibrant community spirit. As a leader in regional education, Mattoon prides itself on innovative, individualized curriculums that prepare students for success in an ever-changing world.

In partnership with Make My Move , Move to Mattoon extends a comprehensive relocation incentive package. Prospective residents can benefit from up to $5,000 in cash for moving expenses, $2,555 in local business gift cards and a $500 restaurant voucher, alongside complimentary access to coworking spaces, YMCA facilities, internet services and storage solutions. With its blend of educational excellence, community celebrations like Bagelfest and relocation support, Mattoon beckons remote workers seeking a fulfilling lifestyle in the heart of Illinois.

Tulsa, Oklahoma

• Maximum compensation: $10,000
• Where to apply: Tulsa Remote
• Median rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $899
• Population: 413,066

Tulsa’s remote worker relocation incentive program, Tulsa Remote , has already attracted over 3,000 remote workers to the city. This initiative is backed by the George Kaiser Family Foundation, which provides financial incentives to renters and buyers alike. Remote workers who relocate to Tulsa and rent receive $10,000 through monthly disbursements. Buyers are able to receive the same amount either through monthly payments or as a lump sum.

Tulsa offers more than just financial benefits for remote workers. The city is known for fishing and boating on Keystone Lake, as well as cultural attractions like the Bob Dylan Center and Cain’s Ballroom. Tulsa Remote provides a variety of enrichment activities, such as free gym memberships and fitness classes, alongside professional opportunities like networking events. Another perk of the Tulsa Remote program is its 36-month free membership to the 36 Degrees North coworking space for remote workers who enjoy the occasional visit to an office environment.

The Shoals, Alabama

• Where to apply: Remote Shoals
• Median rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $950
• Population: 155,175

The Shoals encompasses the cities of Florence, Muscle Shoals, Tuscumbia and Sheffield, as well as areas in Lauderdale and Colbert counties in northwestern Alabama. Through the Remote Shoals initiative, eligible individuals relocating to this picturesque region can receive a $10,000 cash incentive, disbursed in installments over a year. The Shoals offers a relatively low cost of living compared with other parts of the U.S., enhancing its appeal to those seeking a balanced lifestyle.

Moreover, beyond its scenic landscapes and lush greenery, The Shoals boasts a legendary musical heritage, anchored by the iconic FAME Recording Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, where music legends like Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin recorded some of their most popular albums. This blend of natural beauty and cultural richness makes The Shoals an attractive destination for remote workers seeking professional opportunities and a vibrant community atmosphere.

Which U.S. states will pay you to move there?

When examining relocation incentives, states that offer comprehensive packages across multiple cities stand out. States such as West Virginia illustrate this approach by implementing statewide relocation incentives instead of confining them to just one or two cities. Opting for statewide programs provides a broad array of choices and flexibility for prospective movers.

West Virginia

• Maximum compensation: $20,000
• Where to apply: Ascend West Virginia
• Median rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $750
• Population: 1,793,716

West Virginia is home to one of the most generous relocation incentive programs in the United States: Ascend West Virginia . This initiative, focused on communities like the Greenbrier Valley, Morgantown and the Eastern Panhandle, offers newcomers up to $10,000 in their first year and an additional $2,000 in the second year, totaling a package valued at $20,000.

Beyond cash incentives, participants may enjoy perks such as free outdoor gear, professional development opportunities and access to coworking spaces. West Virginia, known for its deep woods and scenic mountains, is the third-most-forested state in the U.S., offering unparalleled access to nature. With its largest city, Charleston, boasting a population of just 48,864, workers moving to West Virginia can enjoy the serenity of a low-population state after taking advantage of a funded cross-country move.

• Maximum compensation: $8,800
• Median rent for a one-bedroom apartment: $925
• Population: 4,505,836

Kentucky’s remote worker incentive programs are available across several communities, offering a variety of enticing benefits available via Make My Move. In Frankfort, the capital city, newcomers can receive a total incentive package of $6,150, including $5,000 in cash, unique experiences like a progressive dinner with downtown residents and a Buffalo Trace Distillery tour. Mayfield, still recovering from a devastating tornado, extends a generous package totaling $8,800, featuring cash incentives, discounted child care and memberships to various local organizations. Paducah also offers up to $2,500 in relocation reimbursement and other financial incentives.

Remote workers are also welcome to move anywhere in the Eastern Kentucky region. The area has lush forests and scenic attractions like the Red River Gorge, and it offers $5,000 in cash and tailored welcome packages and bonuses for spouses working in education or health care. These initiatives reflect a statewide effort to attract skilled professionals and foster community growth amid shifting economic landscapes.

What to know before moving for a remote job

Before relocating for a remote job, it’s important to learn about your new area’s local culture and lifestyle. Understanding the cultural fabric can significantly impact your personal and professional life. From social norms to civic dynamics, cultural differences can influence your integration into a new community and overall satisfaction with the move.

Additionally, consider the key practical questions you’ll face once you’ve moved. Investigate whether your professional certifications and licenses will transfer seamlessly and allow you to transition into your new role smoothly. You will also want to explore health care options and the accessibility of quality medical services in the area, as well as any state or local taxes that may affect your financial planning.

Addressing these aspects beforehand can help you better prepare for the nuances of your new environment and ensure a successful relocation for your remote career.

This story was produced by ConsumerAffairs and reviewed and distributed by Stacker Media.

Copyright 2024 Stacker via Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Pew Study Finds Work Is A Top Source Of Meaning

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

According to a Pew Research Center study that surveyed nearly 19,000 adults across 17 advanced economies, work is the second most common source of meaning, falling just behind family and children.

This finding adds to the growing body of research that underscores the importance of meaningful work. Previous studies revealed that when employees find their work meaningful, they experience greater job satisfaction , better engagement , and a stronger sense of organizational loyalty. The Pew Research Center’s findings explain these outcomes and further highlight the value of cultivating a meaning-conducive workplace.

What Makes Work Meaningful

Before acting on these results, employers must first determine what will make work meaningful for their employees.

A recent experiment from Aalto University may help them make that determination. Drawing from the self-determination theory, which identifies universal human motivations and basic psychological needs, the researchers hypothesized meaningful work is positively associated with:

• Autonomy : The sense that one has control over their actions
• Beneficence : The sense that one’s work is having a prosocial effect and contributing positively to the lives of other people
• Competence : The sense of mastery and efficacy in one’s activities
• Relatedness : The sense that one is connected to others, has caring relationships, and belongs to a community

To test their hypothesis, the team of researchers sent out a survey to 240 workers that contained questions designed to measure the degree to which participants felt their work was meaningful and satisfied their need for autonomy, beneficence, competence, and relatedness.

They found that autonomy and beneficence were the strongest predictors of meaningful work. Surprisingly, competence and relatedness did not have any effects on their own. However, competence did predict feelings of autonomy, and relatedness predicted beneficence. This suggests that both factors may indirectly influence a worker’s sense of meaning. When accounting for these results, the researchers noted that:

When one feels one is competent in certain tasks, this might make work feel more self-endorsed and thus increase a sense of autonomy over time. Similarly, relatedness could lead one to want to contribute towards those one feels a sense of relatedness with, thus increasing the sense of contribution over time.

While many individuals derive meaning from their work, they do so most frequently when they feel autonomous, competent, connected to their colleagues, and positively about their work’s impact on the world. To foster meaningfulness, employers must cultivate these traits.

Companies should work on clarifying and articulating their  organizational purpose . Without a clear understanding of a business’s primary non-profit-related goal, employees may have difficulty understanding how their work is making the world a better place. Employers should also focus on the value created by each role in the company. This will enable them to clearly explain to every employee why and how their work contributes to the common good.

Leaders should create systematic processes that allow managers and peers to express gratitude and recognize employees’ hard work. This will help with competency, which may improve autonomy.

Lastly, organizations must create a supportive culture that enables employees to form strong bonds. When doing so, they should consider the impact of remote or hybrid work on an employee’s professional relationships, as studies have found that telecommuting workers are more likely to feel isolated and disconnected from their colleagues.

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Fact Check Team: How does the electoral college work, and why does it matter?

by EMMA WITHROW | Fact Check Team

WASHINGTON (TND) — Vice President Kamala Harris is leading Former President Donald Trump in the majority of the national polls, yet they remain neck and neck in key swing states.

The seven swing states, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, hold keys to the White House. All of those states have populations that are closely divided politically, so every vote really does count and election outcomes have swung back and forth between democratic and republican wins. Candidates recognize that, and spend the majority of their time and money there; for example, Harris set aside $370 million for advertising from Labor Day through November in swing states. Most of the seven states became solidified as swing states over the last 20-30 years.

The Significance of the Electoral College

It’s important to note, that when Americans vote for president they’re not actually voting directly for the candidate, they’re voting for a group of electors. Each state has a set number of electors, based on the state’s population size, and all of those electors across the country make up the electoral college.

In most states, the candidate who wins the popular vote gets all of that state’s electoral votes, similar to a winner-takes-all system, but in Maine and Nebraska, they split their electoral votes.

Regardless, to win the White House a candidate must receive 270 electoral votes, out of 538. If neither candidate secures 270 the House of Representatives steps in, and it’s only happened twice – in 1801 and 1825.

The Controversy of the Electoral College

The Electoral College has long been a controversy in the United States. Recent findings from the Pew Research Center show nearly two-thirds of Americans think the presidency should be decided by the popular vote rather than the electoral votes. In U.S. history there have been five presidential elections the eventual winner lost the popular vote but won the electoral college, so some people argue the electoral college ignores the will of the people.

But people who favor it say without the Electoral College large portions of the country would be ignored and their voices wouldn’t be heard.

According to the Pew Research Center, Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to support moving to a popular vote system for presidential elections (82% vs. 47%), and that was on full display in 2016 when Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but still lost the election to Donald Trump because he won the electoral college.

More From Forbes

Why more people are trying a phased retirement.

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By Chris Farrell, Next Avenue

Next Avenue readers know that the U.S. workforce is aging . The ranks of workers age 65 and older has nearly quadrupled to more than 11 million since the mid-1980s, according to a report by the Pew Research Center . The trend toward an older workforce will continue, largely thanks to the combination of increased life expectancy (on average) and lower birth rates. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts adults 65 and older will account for 57% of labor force growth over the decade ending in 2032.

That said, most workers eventually retire. Surveys show that the concept of gradually transitioning from full-time work to retirement — the catchphrase is "phased retirement" — is popular.

Fidelity Investments’ "State of Retirement Planning" study notes that two-thirds of those it surveyed across generations hope for phased retirement — steadily cutting back their work hours over several years before saying goodbye to colleagues for the last time. The Allianz Life 2024 annual consumer survey finds 47% of its participants think retirement should be a slow transition away from full-time work.

A Way To Test Drive Retirement

Phased retirement is an attractive choice for several reasons, especially among employees who have spent decades developing work-related knowledge and skills. They may not be quite ready to stop using their accumulated expertise, yet they're eager to leave behind the demands of full-time work (and endless exhortations to do more with less).

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Perhaps continuing to earn an income, even though it's adjusted lower to account for fewer hours on the job, will ease the financial transition into retirement. Less time at work allows near-retirees to experiment with different activities to learn what may be fulfilling in their post-work years.

"It is an appealing idea for people," says Joe Casey, an executive coach and author of "Win the Retirement Game: Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy." "It gives them more control and another option between continuing to work full-time and full-time retirement."

However, most companies haven't bothered to build an established glide path toward retirement for their older employees. That is, until recently.

Not only are phased retirement programs getting more attention from management, but even organizations without plans for adopting such a program increasingly offer employees the option to shift to more flexible work schedules, part-time jobs and the like. The choices go under different names, but the overall impact is to create more practical and gradual transition avenues toward retirement.

Preserving Institutional Memory

"It feels like progress has been slow," says Catherine Collinson, chief executive officer and president of the nonprofit Transamerica Institute and Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies. "But progress is happening."

Odds are management will look favorably on phased retirement and related programs in the years ahead. For one, management wants to retain experienced labor for a few more years in a tight labor market. For another, organizations want to encourage experienced employees to pass on their intangible knowledge to younger generations before they leave.

Employees are eager for phased retirement opportunities, too.

"What I see in the data and my interpretation and the survey findings, is the world of work is evolving; employer business practices are evolving," says Collinson . The Covid-19 pandemic alone accelerated the adoption of remote work, hybrid work and other opportunities that didn't exist five years ago.

Formal Vs. Informal Programs

Let's pause for a brief definition. Formal phased-retirement programs usually establish a set schedule over several years toward reduced hours and pay. Benefits are often maintained during the transition period. Formal programs can require mentoring and knowledge transfer to other employees.

Employers with formal programs typically have a highly skilled workforce — colleges and universities, government and technical professions. Management in these skill-dominated industries appreciate the option of retaining experienced employees longer, buying time for critical knowledge transfers and workforce succession planning.

Informal phased retirement programs are more common. The classic informal arrangement is a negotiated deal between an employee and boss that sets the parameters for a gradual exit. In addition, benefits options that enable greater flexibility on the job aren't necessarily designed with older workers in mind, but they are useful for constructing a transition path to retirement. Flexibility is useful for employees at other stages in their career and lives, including caregivers.

"You want it to be as inclusive as possible. So, when you're saying you're offering part time, people won't automatically put you out to the pasture and say, 'Look, you're retiring,' " says Emily Dickens, chief of staff, head of government affairs and corporate secretary for Society for Human Resource Management. "It's like, 'Look, I want to do something different and part time is an option,' no matter what age range you are in."

How Common Is This?

There is no nationally representative data on phased retirement, but the survey evidence is suggestive. Take the results from " Workplace Transformations: Employer Business Practices and Benefit Offerings " survey by the Transamerica Institute. Only 35% of employers have a formal phased retirement program, and 28% say they plan to implement one in the future.

Benefits that offer the option to create a transition to retirement can include flexible work schedules (available at 59% of companies surveyed), the ability to adjust hours as needed (54%), and enabling the switch from full-time to part-time (and vice versa) (36%).

Curious to learn more about phased retirement, I met with Stephen Burks, 74, who is an economics professor at the University of Minnesota Morris. The University of Minnesota has a formal program for tenured faculty, and he recently completed his four-year phased retirement. He joined the faculty at Morris in 1999 and specialized in experimental and behavioral economics and the economics of the U.S. trucking industry. (Burks drove tractor-trailers for a living for 10 years ending in 1986 before deciding to get his Ph.D. in economics.)

He started thinking about phased retirement about six years ago. Two years later he started his phased retirement, doing 75% of a professorial workload for 75% of the pay in the first year. He ended the transition at 35% pay and activity his last year. He kept his benefits.

Progress Trails Aging Workforce

An advantage of the program is that his schedule became considerably more relaxed since he no longer had to participate on committees and other university services. He did suffer a setback when he had to have triple bypass heart surgery. Happily, he recovered fine, and he tacked on another course the following year to make up for the missing semester.

"I have to say I liked it," says Burks. "I honestly don't think there was very much negative."

The evidence is overwhelming that the workplace has become more age-friendly in recent decades although progress has been on the slow side considering the aging of the workforce and the population.

Whether the approach is a formal phased retirement program, a much larger embrace of flexible work arrangements, or some combination of benefits, establishing a clearly understood roadmap for employees eager to retire gradually seems like a classic win-win for both management and workers.

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Fact-checking warnings from Democrats about Project 2025 and Donald Trump

This fact check originally appeared on PolitiFact .

Project 2025 has a starring role in this week’s Democratic National Convention.

And it was front and center on Night 1.

WATCH: Hauling large copy of Project 2025, Michigan state Sen. McMorrow speaks at 2024 DNC

“This is Project 2025,” Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, said as she laid a hardbound copy of the 900-page document on the lectern. “Over the next four nights, you are going to hear a lot about what is in this 900-page document. Why? Because this is the Republican blueprint for a second Trump term.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, has warned Americans about “Trump’s Project 2025” agenda — even though former President Donald Trump doesn’t claim the conservative presidential transition document.

“Donald Trump wants to take our country backward,” Harris said July 23 in Milwaukee. “He and his extreme Project 2025 agenda will weaken the middle class. Like, we know we got to take this seriously, and can you believe they put that thing in writing?”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, has joined in on the talking point.

“Don’t believe (Trump) when he’s playing dumb about this Project 2025. He knows exactly what it’ll do,” Walz said Aug. 9 in Glendale, Arizona.

Trump’s campaign has worked to build distance from the project, which the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, led with contributions from dozens of conservative groups.

Much of the plan calls for extensive executive-branch overhauls and draws on both long-standing conservative principles, such as tax cuts, and more recent culture war issues. It lays out recommendations for disbanding the Commerce and Education departments, eliminating certain climate protections and consolidating more power to the president.

Project 2025 offers a sweeping vision for a Republican-led executive branch, and some of its policies mirror Trump’s 2024 agenda, But Harris and her presidential campaign have at times gone too far in describing what the project calls for and how closely the plans overlap with Trump’s campaign.

PolitiFact researched Harris’ warnings about how the plan would affect reproductive rights, federal entitlement programs and education, just as we did for President Joe Biden’s Project 2025 rhetoric. Here’s what the project does and doesn’t call for, and how it squares with Trump’s positions.

Are Trump and Project 2025 connected?

To distance himself from Project 2025 amid the Democratic attacks, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he “knows nothing” about it and has “no idea” who is in charge of it. (CNN identified at least 140 former advisers from the Trump administration who have been involved.)

The Heritage Foundation sought contributions from more than 100 conservative organizations for its policy vision for the next Republican presidency, which was published in 2023.

Project 2025 is now winding down some of its policy operations, and director Paul Dans, a former Trump administration official, is stepping down, The Washington Post reported July 30. Trump campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita denounced the document.

WATCH: A look at the Project 2025 plan to reshape government and Trump’s links to its authors

However, Project 2025 contributors include a number of high-ranking officials from Trump’s first administration, including former White House adviser Peter Navarro and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.

A recently released recording of Russell Vought, a Project 2025 author and the former director of Trump’s Office of Management and Budget, showed Vought saying Trump’s “very supportive of what we do.” He said Trump was only distancing himself because Democrats were making a bogeyman out of the document.

Project 2025 wouldn’t ban abortion outright, but would curtail access

The Harris campaign shared a graphic on X that claimed “Trump’s Project 2025 plan for workers” would “go after birth control and ban abortion nationwide.”

The plan doesn’t call to ban abortion nationwide, though its recommendations could curtail some contraceptives and limit abortion access.

What’s known about Trump’s abortion agenda neither lines up with Harris’ description nor Project 2025’s wish list.

Project 2025 says the Department of Health and Human Services Department should “return to being known as the Department of Life by explicitly rejecting the notion that abortion is health care.”

It recommends that the Food and Drug Administration reverse its 2000 approval of mifepristone, the first pill taken in a two-drug regimen for a medication abortion. Medication is the most common form of abortion in the U.S. — accounting for around 63 percent in 2023.

If mifepristone were to remain approved, Project 2025 recommends new rules, such as cutting its use from 10 weeks into pregnancy to seven. It would have to be provided to patients in person — part of the group’s efforts to limit access to the drug by mail. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a legal challenge to mifepristone’s FDA approval over procedural grounds.

WATCH: Trump’s plans for health care and reproductive rights if he returns to White House The manual also calls for the Justice Department to enforce the 1873 Comstock Act on mifepristone, which bans the mailing of “obscene” materials. Abortion access supporters fear that a strict interpretation of the law could go further to ban mailing the materials used in procedural abortions, such as surgical instruments and equipment.

The plan proposes withholding federal money from states that don’t report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention how many abortions take place within their borders. The plan also would prohibit abortion providers, such as Planned Parenthood, from receiving Medicaid funds. It also calls for the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure that the training of medical professionals, including doctors and nurses, omits abortion training.

The document says some forms of emergency contraception — particularly Ella, a pill that can be taken within five days of unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy — should be excluded from no-cost coverage. The Affordable Care Act requires most private health insurers to cover recommended preventive services, which involves a range of birth control methods, including emergency contraception.

Trump has recently said states should decide abortion regulations and that he wouldn’t block access to contraceptives. Trump said during his June 27 debate with Biden that he wouldn’t ban mifepristone after the Supreme Court “approved” it. But the court rejected the lawsuit based on standing, not the case’s merits. He has not weighed in on the Comstock Act or said whether he supports it being used to block abortion medication, or other kinds of abortions.

Project 2025 doesn’t call for cutting Social Security, but proposes some changes to Medicare

“When you read (Project 2025),” Harris told a crowd July 23 in Wisconsin, “you will see, Donald Trump intends to cut Social Security and Medicare.”

The Project 2025 document does not call for Social Security cuts. None of its 10 references to Social Security addresses plans for cutting the program.

Harris also misleads about Trump’s Social Security views.

In his earlier campaigns and before he was a politician, Trump said about a half-dozen times that he’s open to major overhauls of Social Security, including cuts and privatization. More recently, in a March 2024 CNBC interview, Trump said of entitlement programs such as Social Security, “There’s a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting.” However, he quickly walked that statement back, and his CNBC comment stands at odds with essentially everything else Trump has said during the 2024 presidential campaign.

Trump’s campaign website says that not “a single penny” should be cut from Social Security. We rated Harris’ claim that Trump intends to cut Social Security Mostly False.

Project 2025 does propose changes to Medicare, including making Medicare Advantage, the private insurance offering in Medicare, the “default” enrollment option. Unlike Original Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans have provider networks and can also require prior authorization, meaning that the plan can approve or deny certain services. Original Medicare plans don’t have prior authorization requirements.

The manual also calls for repealing health policies enacted under Biden, such as the Inflation Reduction Act. The law enabled Medicare to negotiate with drugmakers for the first time in history, and recently resulted in an agreement with drug companies to lower the prices of 10 expensive prescriptions for Medicare enrollees.

Trump, however, has said repeatedly during the 2024 presidential campaign that he will not cut Medicare.

Project 2025 would eliminate the Education Department, which Trump supports

The Harris campaign said Project 2025 would “eliminate the U.S. Department of Education” — and that’s accurate. Project 2025 says federal education policy “should be limited and, ultimately, the federal Department of Education should be eliminated.” The plan scales back the federal government’s role in education policy and devolves the functions that remain to other agencies.

Aside from eliminating the department, the project also proposes scrapping the Biden administration’s Title IX revision, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It also would let states opt out of federal education programs and calls for passing a federal parents’ bill of rights similar to ones passed in some Republican-led state legislatures.

Republicans, including Trump, have pledged to close the department, which gained its status in 1979 within Democratic President Jimmy Carter’s presidential Cabinet.

In one of his Agenda 47 policy videos, Trump promised to close the department and “to send all education work and needs back to the states.” Eliminating the department would have to go through Congress.

What Project 2025, Trump would do on overtime pay

In the graphic, the Harris campaign says Project 2025 allows “employers to stop paying workers for overtime work.”

The plan doesn’t call for banning overtime wages. It recommends changes to some Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, regulations and to overtime rules. Some changes, if enacted, could result in some people losing overtime protections, experts told us.

The document proposes that the Labor Department maintain an overtime threshold “that does not punish businesses in lower-cost regions (e.g., the southeast United States).” This threshold is the amount of money executive, administrative or professional employees need to make for an employer to exempt them from overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In 2019, the Trump’s administration finalized a rule that expanded overtime pay eligibility to most salaried workers earning less than about $35,568, which it said made about 1.3 million more workers eligible for overtime pay. The Trump-era threshold is high enough to cover most line workers in lower-cost regions, Project 2025 said.

The Biden administration raised that threshold to $43,888 beginning July 1, and that will rise to $58,656 on Jan. 1, 2025. That would grant overtime eligibility to about 4 million workers, the Labor Department said.

It’s unclear how many workers Project 2025’s proposal to return to the Trump-era overtime threshold in some parts of the country would affect, but experts said some would presumably lose the right to overtime wages.

Other overtime proposals in Project 2025’s plan include allowing some workers to choose to accumulate paid time off instead of overtime pay, or to work more hours in one week and fewer in the next, rather than receive overtime.

Trump’s past with overtime pay is complicated. In 2016, the Obama administration said it would raise the overtime to salaried workers earning less than $47,476 a year, about double the exemption level set in 2004 of $23,660 a year.

But when a judge blocked the Obama rule, the Trump administration didn’t challenge the court ruling. Instead it set its own overtime threshold, which raised the amount, but by less than Obama.

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Key things to know about U.S. election polling in 2024

Confidence in U.S. public opinion polling was shaken by errors in 2016 and 2020. In both years’ general elections, many polls underestimated the strength of Republican candidates, including Donald Trump. These errors laid bare some real limitations of polling.

In the midterms that followed those elections, polling performed better . But many Americans remain skeptical that it can paint an accurate portrait of the public’s political preferences.

Restoring people’s confidence in polling is an important goal, because robust and independent public polling has a critical role to play in a democratic society. It gathers and publishes information about the well-being of the public and about citizens’ views on major issues. And it provides an important counterweight to people in power, or those seeking power, when they make claims about “what the people want.”

The challenges facing polling are undeniable. In addition to the longstanding issues of rising nonresponse and cost, summer 2024 brought extraordinary events that transformed the presidential race . The good news is that people with deep knowledge of polling are working hard to fix the problems exposed in 2016 and 2020, experimenting with more data sources and interview approaches than ever before. Still, polls are more useful to the public if people have realistic expectations about what surveys can do well – and what they cannot.

With that in mind, here are some key points to know about polling heading into this year’s presidential election.

Probability sampling (or “random sampling”). This refers to a polling method in which survey participants are recruited using random sampling from a database or list that includes nearly everyone in the population. The pollster selects the sample. The survey is not open for anyone who wants to sign up.

Online opt-in polling (or “nonprobability sampling”). These polls are recruited using a variety of methods that are sometimes referred to as “convenience sampling.” Respondents come from a variety of online sources such as ads on social media or search engines, websites offering rewards in exchange for survey participation, or self-enrollment. Unlike surveys with probability samples, people can volunteer to participate in opt-in surveys.

Nonresponse and nonresponse bias. Nonresponse is when someone sampled for a survey does not participate. Nonresponse bias occurs when the pattern of nonresponse leads to error in a poll estimate. For example, college graduates are more likely than those without a degree to participate in surveys, leading to the potential that the share of college graduates in the resulting sample will be too high.

Mode of interview. This refers to the format in which respondents are presented with and respond to survey questions. The most common modes are online, live telephone, text message and paper. Some polls use more than one mode.

Weighting. This is a statistical procedure pollsters perform to make their survey align with the broader population on key characteristics like age, race, etc. For example, if a survey has too many college graduates compared with their share in the population, people without a college degree are “weighted up” to match the proper share.

How are election polls being conducted?

Pollsters are making changes in response to the problems in previous elections. As a result, polling is different today than in 2016. Most U.S. polling organizations that conducted and publicly released national surveys in both 2016 and 2022 (61%) used methods in 2022 that differed from what they used in 2016 . And change has continued since 2022.

One change is that the number of active polling organizations has grown significantly, indicating that there are fewer barriers to entry into the polling field. The number of organizations that conduct national election polls more than doubled between 2000 and 2022.

This growth has been driven largely by pollsters using inexpensive opt-in sampling methods. But previous Pew Research Center analyses have demonstrated how surveys that use nonprobability sampling may have errors twice as large , on average, as those that use probability sampling.

The second change is that many of the more prominent polling organizations that use probability sampling – including Pew Research Center – have shifted from conducting polls primarily by telephone to using online methods, or some combination of online, mail and telephone. The result is that polling methodologies are far more diverse now than in the past.

(For more about how public opinion polling works, including a chapter on election polls, read our short online course on public opinion polling basics .)

All good polling relies on statistical adjustment called “weighting,” which makes sure that the survey sample aligns with the broader population on key characteristics. Historically, public opinion researchers have adjusted their data using a core set of demographic variables to correct imbalances between the survey sample and the population.

But there is a growing realization among survey researchers that weighting a poll on just a few variables like age, race and gender is insufficient for getting accurate results. Some groups of people – such as older adults and college graduates – are more likely to take surveys, which can lead to errors that are too sizable for a simple three- or four-variable adjustment to work well. Adjusting on more variables produces more accurate results, according to Center studies in 2016 and 2018 .

A number of pollsters have taken this lesson to heart. For example, recent high-quality polls by Gallup and The New York Times/Siena College adjusted on eight and 12 variables, respectively. Our own polls typically adjust on 12 variables . In a perfect world, it wouldn’t be necessary to have that much intervention by the pollster. But the real world of survey research is not perfect.

Predicting who will vote is critical – and difficult. Preelection polls face one crucial challenge that routine opinion polls do not: determining who of the people surveyed will actually cast a ballot.

Roughly a third of eligible Americans do not vote in presidential elections , despite the enormous attention paid to these contests. Determining who will abstain is difficult because people can’t perfectly predict their future behavior – and because many people feel social pressure to say they’ll vote even if it’s unlikely.

No one knows the profile of voters ahead of Election Day. We can’t know for sure whether young people will turn out in greater numbers than usual, or whether key racial or ethnic groups will do so. This means pollsters are left to make educated guesses about turnout, often using a mix of historical data and current measures of voting enthusiasm. This is very different from routine opinion polls, which mostly do not ask about people’s future intentions.

When major news breaks, a poll’s timing can matter. Public opinion on most issues is remarkably stable, so you don’t necessarily need a recent poll about an issue to get a sense of what people think about it. But dramatic events can and do change public opinion , especially when people are first learning about a new topic. For example, polls this summer saw notable changes in voter attitudes following Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race. Polls taken immediately after a major event may pick up a shift in public opinion, but those shifts are sometimes short-lived. Polls fielded weeks or months later are what allow us to see whether an event has had a long-term impact on the public’s psyche.

How accurate are polls?

The answer to this question depends on what you want polls to do. Polls are used for all kinds of purposes in addition to showing who’s ahead and who’s behind in a campaign. Fair or not, however, the accuracy of election polling is usually judged by how closely the polls matched the outcome of the election.

By this standard, polling in 2016 and 2020 performed poorly. In both years, state polling was characterized by serious errors. National polling did reasonably well in 2016 but faltered in 2020.

In 2020, a post-election review of polling by the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) found that “the 2020 polls featured polling error of an unusual magnitude: It was the highest in 40 years for the national popular vote and the highest in at least 20 years for state-level estimates of the vote in presidential, senatorial, and gubernatorial contests.”

How big were the errors? Polls conducted in the last two weeks before the election suggested that Biden’s margin over Trump was nearly twice as large as it ended up being in the final national vote tally.

Errors of this size make it difficult to be confident about who is leading if the election is closely contested, as many U.S. elections are .

Pollsters are rightly working to improve the accuracy of their polls. But even an error of 4 or 5 percentage points isn’t too concerning if the purpose of the poll is to describe whether the public has favorable or unfavorable opinions about candidates , or to show which issues matter to which voters. And on questions that gauge where people stand on issues, we usually want to know broadly where the public stands. We don’t necessarily need to know the precise share of Americans who say, for example, that climate change is mostly caused by human activity. Even judged by its performance in recent elections, polling can still provide a faithful picture of public sentiment on the important issues of the day.

The 2022 midterms saw generally accurate polling, despite a wave of partisan polls predicting a broad Republican victory. In fact, FiveThirtyEight found that “polls were more accurate in 2022 than in any cycle since at least 1998, with almost no bias toward either party.” Moreover, a handful of contrarian polls that predicted a 2022 “red wave” largely washed out when the votes were tallied. In sum, if we focus on polling in the most recent national election, there’s plenty of reason to be encouraged.

Compared with other elections in the past 20 years, polls have been less accurate when Donald Trump is on the ballot. Preelection surveys suffered from large errors – especially at the state level – in 2016 and 2020, when Trump was standing for election. But they performed reasonably well in the 2018 and 2022 midterms, when he was not.

During the 2016 campaign, observers speculated about the possibility that Trump supporters might be less willing to express their support to a pollster – a phenomenon sometimes described as the “shy Trump effect.” But a committee of polling experts evaluated five different tests of the “shy Trump” theory and turned up little to no evidence for each one . Later, Pew Research Center and, in a separate test, a researcher from Yale also found little to no evidence in support of the claim.

Instead, two other explanations are more likely. One is about the difficulty of estimating who will turn out to vote. Research has found that Trump is popular among people who tend to sit out midterms but turn out for him in presidential election years. Since pollsters often use past turnout to predict who will vote, it can be difficult to anticipate when irregular voters will actually show up.

The other explanation is that Republicans in the Trump era have become a little less likely than Democrats to participate in polls . Pollsters call this “partisan nonresponse bias.” Surprisingly, polls historically have not shown any particular pattern of favoring one side or the other. The errors that favored Democratic candidates in the past eight years may be a result of the growth of political polarization, along with declining trust among conservatives in news organizations and other institutions that conduct polls.

Whatever the cause, the fact that Trump is again the nominee of the Republican Party means that pollsters must be especially careful to make sure all segments of the population are properly represented in surveys.

The real margin of error is often about double the one reported. A typical election poll sample of about 1,000 people has a margin of sampling error that’s about plus or minus 3 percentage points. That number expresses the uncertainty that results from taking a sample of the population rather than interviewing everyone . Random samples are likely to differ a little from the population just by chance, in the same way that the quality of your hand in a card game varies from one deal to the next.

The problem is that sampling error is not the only kind of error that affects a poll. Those other kinds of error, in fact, can be as large or larger than sampling error. Consequently, the reported margin of error can lead people to think that polls are more accurate than they really are.

There are three other, equally important sources of error in polling: noncoverage error , where not all the target population has a chance of being sampled; nonresponse error, where certain groups of people may be less likely to participate; and measurement error, where people may not properly understand the questions or misreport their opinions. Not only does the margin of error fail to account for those other sources of potential error, putting a number only on sampling error implies to the public that other kinds of error do not exist.

Several recent studies show that the average total error in a poll estimate may be closer to twice as large as that implied by a typical margin of sampling error. This hidden error underscores the fact that polls may not be precise enough to call the winner in a close election.

Other important things to remember

Transparency in how a poll was conducted is associated with better accuracy . The polling industry has several platforms and initiatives aimed at promoting transparency in survey methodology. These include AAPOR’s transparency initiative and the Roper Center archive . Polling organizations that participate in these organizations have less error, on average, than those that don’t participate, an analysis by FiveThirtyEight found .

Participation in these transparency efforts does not guarantee that a poll is rigorous, but it is undoubtedly a positive signal. Transparency in polling means disclosing essential information, including the poll’s sponsor, the data collection firm, where and how participants were selected, modes of interview, field dates, sample size, question wording, and weighting procedures.

There is evidence that when the public is told that a candidate is extremely likely to win, some people may be less likely to vote . Following the 2016 election, many people wondered whether the pervasive forecasts that seemed to all but guarantee a Hillary Clinton victory – two modelers put her chances at 99% – led some would-be voters to conclude that the race was effectively over and that their vote would not make a difference. There is scientific research to back up that claim: A team of researchers found experimental evidence that when people have high confidence that one candidate will win, they are less likely to vote. This helps explain why some polling analysts say elections should be covered using traditional polling estimates and margins of error rather than speculative win probabilities (also known as “probabilistic forecasts”).

National polls tell us what the entire public thinks about the presidential candidates, but the outcome of the election is determined state by state in the Electoral College . The 2000 and 2016 presidential elections demonstrated a difficult truth: The candidate with the largest share of support among all voters in the United States sometimes loses the election. In those two elections, the national popular vote winners (Al Gore and Hillary Clinton) lost the election in the Electoral College (to George W. Bush and Donald Trump). In recent years, analysts have shown that Republican candidates do somewhat better in the Electoral College than in the popular vote because every state gets three electoral votes regardless of population – and many less-populated states are rural and more Republican.

For some, this raises the question: What is the use of national polls if they don’t tell us who is likely to win the presidency? In fact, national polls try to gauge the opinions of all Americans, regardless of whether they live in a battleground state like Pennsylvania, a reliably red state like Idaho or a reliably blue state like Rhode Island. In short, national polls tell us what the entire citizenry is thinking. Polls that focus only on the competitive states run the risk of giving too little attention to the needs and views of the vast majority of Americans who live in uncompetitive states – about 80%.

Fortunately, this is not how most pollsters view the world . As the noted political scientist Sidney Verba explained, “Surveys produce just what democracy is supposed to produce – equal representation of all citizens.”

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Scott Keeter is a senior survey advisor at Pew Research Center .

Courtney Kennedy is Vice President of Methods and Innovation at Pew Research Center .

How do people in the U.S. take Pew Research Center surveys, anyway?

How public polling has changed in the 21st century, what 2020’s election poll errors tell us about the accuracy of issue polling, a field guide to polling: election 2020 edition, methods 101: how is polling done around the world, most popular.

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