{"id":1081,"date":"2020-06-04T09:34:02","date_gmt":"2020-06-04T09:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nixq4qvp95-staging.onrocket.site\/?p=1081"},"modified":"2020-06-23T16:08:00","modified_gmt":"2020-06-23T16:08:00","slug":"the-rise-of-remote-working-is-it-here-to-stay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.com\/blog\/the-rise-of-remote-working-is-it-here-to-stay\/","title":{"rendered":"The rise of remote working. Is it here to stay?"},"content":{"rendered":"

For a change to properly take hold, sometimes it takes a shock to force people to make that change, and once we\u2019ve made the change we wonder how we could have operated the old way. That seems to be the case with remote working. Coronavirus is the shock, and the idea seems to have taken hold.<\/span>
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\n<\/span>Way back in the distant past of 2019,<\/span> Buffer released a report<\/span><\/a> based on a survey of 2,500 respondents where they concluded that it was here to stay. The vast majority wanted to continue to work from home, and actively encouraged others to. TechRepublic reported that <\/span>there had been a 400% rise in remote working<\/span><\/a> in the past decade. Clearly the momentum was there.<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s accelerated this trend globally is coronavirus. The lockdowns in many locations across the world forced companies to adopt a work from home policy as they try to keep their workers working without an office. Firms tried to work out where they fit on Matt Mullenweg\u2019s <\/span>pyramid of autonomy<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, 3 months into the first lockdown, companies such as <\/span>Twitter, Mondelez, and Nationwide<\/span><\/a> all discussing a permanent change that means closing some or all of their offices to allow remote working, it appears as though for a large number of companies, this will change.<\/span><\/p>\n

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What does this mean for hiring?<\/b><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The number of vacancies for remote work on Adzuna.com is 116,132 out of a total of 2,531,365 vacancies. That\u2019s currently less than 5%, and if we add \u201cWork From Home\u201d jobs (61,115 currently) it\u2019s potentially 7%. It\u2019s a minority, but it\u2019s a sizeable one. However, given that Amazon have 114,767 vacancies on Adzuna.com at the moment, that gives you a sense of comparison.<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve written a guide to recruiting remotely here<\/span><\/a> if you are looking to hire remotely for the first time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It remains to be seen whether 5-7% is the new baseline, or if it represents a peak. Hiring is down overall still in the US, so as firms start to recover, we may see that number creep up. Firms that have paused all hiring may restart with a remote-only focus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Alternatively, right now is the prime time for hiring remotely as there is a clear demand for those jobs (see below). With a drop in hiring from non-essential retail and other major employers, vacancies for remote workers should represent a higher-than-normal proportion of live jobs. Therefore it could be a peak in terms of proportion of live jobs, even if the number of remote jobs increases.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Candidate demand is high, but is it temporary?<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There has been a marked increase in searches on Adzuna.com for \u201cRemote\u201d jobs and other similar search terms since the virus hit the US. We\u2019ve taken March 1st as a slightly convenient point to compare the before and after search volumes. What\u2019s clear is that after March 1st, search terms are massively up.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Search term<\/th>Change (March 1st - June 1st vs. previous period)<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Home Working<\/td>177%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Remote<\/td>621%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Work From Home<\/td>123%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Online Part Time<\/td>224%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

At the other end, searches for \u201cFull Time\u201d work has fallen 93% and searches for \u201cOffice Clerk\u201d are down 97%. Perhaps these are isolated, but it does suggest a general move away from the office .<\/span><\/p>\n

Searches volumes by month. Index January = 100<\/p>\n