New research indicates that after the pandemic has ended, 30% to 40% of work days will remain remote.

A monthly survey commissioned by Jose Maria Barrero of the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, Nicholas Bloom of Stanford, and Steven Davis of the University of Chicago revealed that 42.4% of workdays in the U.S. were remote at the end of December 2021.

Prior to the pandemic, working from home made up just 5% of paid workdays. However, the Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes saw this number skyrocket to 60% during the spring of 2020.

While this number has fluctuated since the onset of the health crisis, continuous waves of new variants and uncertainty have allowed this work arrangement to become a foundational part of workplace operations.

The survey inquired about what to expect in the future, and preferences have varied from month-to-month. 

For instance, 21% of respondents said they expect to work from home in the spring of 2021, but that number grew to 29% by December.

According to Barrero, this number will likely continue to grow in the coming years, and Covid-19 will not be the sole reason for this shift. 

In fact, mid-December findings from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that just 11.1% of American workers said they were working remotely “because of the coronavirus pandemic.”