More Americans worked from home in 2025 even as companies stepped up efforts to bring staff back to the office — a tug-of-war reshaping hiring, pay patterns and the future of office space. New survey data suggest remote and hybrid arrangements are settling into everyday work life, with consequences for families, employers and workplace equity.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ most recent American Time Use Survey shows that 35 percent of employed people did some or all of their work remotely in 2025, up from 33 percent the year before. The rise comes alongside a wave of return-to-office programs pushed by many employers.
Who is most likely to work remotely?
Education and gender remain strong predictors of remote work. People holding a bachelor’s degree or higher were more likely to perform at least some work from home. Women were also more frequently working remotely than men, and the survey found they spent more time on childcare and household responsibilities.
Those patterns are tied to labor-market choices: some women opt for jobs that trade higher pay for greater scheduling flexibility. Over time, those trade-offs help sustain a persistent gender pay gap by steering workers into lower-paid, more flexible roles.
Employers push; workers push back
Despite stricter enforcement of office-attendance policies at some firms, many employees resist full-time returns. The result for a growing number of companies is a de facto hybrid work model — a compromise rather than a full reversal to the pre-pandemic nine-to-five.
- 35% of employed people did some or all work remotely in 2025 (BLS ATUS)
- 33% remote in 2024, showing an uptick year-over-year
- Workers with college degrees more likely to work from home; women more likely than men
- Randstad Workmonitor 2026 surveyed more than 27,000 workers globally
- 81% of employers said remote or hybrid work made collaboration harder
- 48% of employees said being in the office boosted their productivity
The competing claims about productivity and collaboration were underscored in Randstad’s 2026 global survey of more than 27,000 workers. While a large majority of employers reported that remote or hybrid arrangements complicate teamwork, fewer than half of workers believe in-office time clearly improves their output.
Sander van’t Noordende, CEO of Randstad, framed the shift as a redefinition of success: organizations and talent are increasingly flexible about career paths and outcomes, even as face-to-face connection remains important for many workplaces.
Why this matters now
These trends affect several practical stakes for readers: parents balancing work and caregiving, job seekers weighing compensation against flexibility, and managers deciding whether to tighten or loosen attendance rules. Real estate and recruiting strategies are also in flux as firms reassess space needs and talent pipelines.
Policymakers and business leaders should watch how remote work intersects with pay equity and caregiving responsibilities. If flexible schedules continue to funnel certain groups into lower-paid roles, the broader labor market will feel the effects for years.
What to watch next: updates to federal surveys and large employer policies through 2026, new research on remote-work productivity, and whether companies move toward more targeted flexibility — for example, role-based or team-specific requirements — rather than one-size-fits-all mandates. For workers, the central prize remains autonomy over when and where they do their jobs; for employers, it is balancing that autonomy with collaboration and performance.
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Jordan Keller specializes in analyzing the US financial markets. With concrete recommendations, he helps you secure and boost your investments by providing strategies that adapt to market fluctuations.