Employees Want to Work Remotely, But Bosses Won’t Budge

While a significant number of employees insist on working remotely, their bosses are doing everything they can to bring them back to the office.

There has been an explosion in digital nomadism over the past couple years, yet barely 8% of the global workforce is working entirely from home, according to WFH Research, an organization backed by Stanford professor Nick Bloom and Ifo Institute, a German think-tank.

According to the survey, WFH is less widespread in Latin America than in other regions of the world. Full-time employees in Latin America worked an average of one day per week from home in April-May 2023, compared to three days per week in the rest of the globe.

This is primarily owing to employers’ resistance to remote working arrangements because they maintain that working from home reduces productivity.

Employees in Latin America would want to work three days more from home than their companies allow. Employers in English-speaking nations, such as the United Kingdom and Australia, appear to be more liberal in giving WFH arrangements.

WHF Research found out that 67 percent of full-time employees work on-site five days a week in the 34 countries surveyed, while 26 percent have hybrid arrangements.

Around 42% of Latin American respondents stated a desire to work from home, indicating the region’s potential for WFH development.

Despite the resistance from employers, “employees will win” ultimately, wrote Stanford Professor Nick Bloom on his Linkedin account.