As the world settles into its new normal, many are surprised to see just how much the workplace landscape has changed. There was no migration back to the office. There was no massive cut to remote positions. The past few years working from home have redefined our understanding of work-life balance – and there is no going back. 

In many cases, remote work has resulted in increased productivity and higher employee satisfaction. However, don’t pick out your funeral outfit for the traditional office just yet. In-person meetings and collaboration are still important parts of a successful business, a fact that becomes increasingly apparent the longer we use remote alternatives. 

So, onsite only, fully remote, or a hybrid of the two… which is right for your business?  

No need to look into answers yourselves, because your friends at FluentStream have already hit the books, done the research, and returned with these important statistics about hybrid and remote workplaces. 

Important Hybrid and Remote Work Statistics

1. Hybrid models are used by 63% of high-revenue growth companies 

A new report by Accenture has found that, regardless of where your company is located, giving employees options of where and when to work does wonders for productivity. That seems obvious, right? Happy employees are productive employees. 

The surprising part is how many employees prefer hybrid workplaces and view it as a critical job consideration. High-revenue growth companies have generally picked up on this shift quickly and implemented the infrastructure and processes necessary to support a hybrid (or in some cases remote) workplace. 

Meanwhile, 69% of companies with negative or no growth reject the concept of hybrid workforces and prefer to remain onsite only. 

2. 68% of workers prefer the choice between onsite and remote work

Now that the remote work boom has died down a bit, most employees have found they don’t actually want to get rid of their offices altogether. 

As portrayed in the hit sitcom The Office, the office is where the modern adult makes friends, has important discussions, and shares in company culture. 

However, also as portrayed in the hit sitcom The Office, the office is filled with distractions.  

That’s why the preference of most employees is to have access to both workplace options. By empowering your team to choose where and how to work, you show that you truly trust and care about them. 

3. 33% of workers say they’ll quit if they’re forced to return to the office

No statistic shows the level of change that has swept our workforce as much as this one. When asked if they'd be willing to return to the office full-time, a full 33% said they would rather quit. For employers who have been waiting for a return to how things used to be, that has to be a major wake-up call. 

For people who have spent the last few years fully or partially remote, the reasons why couldn’t be clearer. Working from home cuts out your commute and allows for a better work-life balance. Plus, I’ll say it, I don’t know if I can go back to putting pants on every day of the week. 

Despite those personal benefits, many companies are still planning on returning to the office full-time. We advise those businesses to be careful, especially if employees are openly unhappy with that decision. 

If you aren’t willing to allow remote work, you can bet your bottom dollar a competitor is. 

4. 41% of employees struggle with remote collaboration

We’ve focused on the benefits of hybrid and remote work so far, but it’s time to get into a few of the challenges. 

Collaboration is essential to most jobs, but it becomes markedly more difficult when done remotely. Over 40% of employees openly admit they struggle with group projects while working from home, but that number should easily be a full 100%. Even the staunchest remote work defenders have to admit it’s much harder to get meaningful work done over instant message or a video conference. 

However, remote work isn’t going anywhere, so this productivity problem should become less severe as new tactics and technology are implemented. In the meantime, the hybrid model continues to seem like the best of both worlds. Collaboration and feedback gathering can be done in person, and then everyone can return home or to their desk to complete their part of the project. 

5. Time in meetings has doubled 

As a direct result of remote collaboration being more difficult, studies show employees are forced to spend far more time making it work. How much more? Double. The average remote employee is spending twice the time in meetings as their onsite counterparts. 

This increase makes sense of course – what used to be a quick walk to someone’s desk now requires multiple slack messages and a 30 minute catch-up meeting. But unfortunately, being easily explainable doesn’t make a problem easily fixable. 

Without putting serious effort into the processes and tools required to make hybrid and remote work run smoothly, businesses risk severe drops in productivity. On top of that, constant meetings increase employee burnout and can lower morale over time.  

The First Step to Improving the Remote Work Experience 

Throughout the shift to hybrid and remote work, businesses all over the world realized their communications technology was woefully unprepared to meet their new needs. Video conference and messaging apps needed to be implemented. Calls had to be routed to personal phones. Laptops took the place of entire offices. 

As businesses review their communications tools for the long-term, they’re realizing that even more upgrades are needed. All communications channels from phone calls to emergency notifications need to be streamlined and optimized for a hybrid workforce. 

Quite simply, a landline phone system just doesn’t cut it anymore. 

There are many changes and upgrades that must be implemented for a hybrid or remote business to be successful, but the first (and most important) consideration is finding the right communications system.  

Have more questions about how a cloud-hosted communications system helps your business work remotely? Want to see what else FluentStream can do to improve your productivity and save you money every month? Let us know at sales@fluentstream.com or by calling 303-GO-CLOUD and selecting Option 1.