Studies have now indicated that office workers in the U.S. will likely continue to work remotely at least some of the time after the pandemic has ended.
The embrace of remote working has transformed the way employees and employers view workplace arrangements. However, research has also suggested that this flexibility will benefit mostly privileged workers.
In one research paper by Alexander Bick at Arizona State University, Adam Bladin at Virginia Commonwealth University, and Karel Mertens at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, it was revealed that over half of college-educated Americans were expected to work from home after the pandemic.
However, the findings revealed that remote working would most likely come in the form of hybrid arrangements. In fact, 32% of respondents said they expect to work remote part of the time, while 14% said they anticipate full-time remote work arrangements.
Bick’s survey also revealed that those who expect to work from home some of the time in 2022 were largely white, highly educated and received high pay.
Another paper from Jose Maria Barrero, Nicholas Bloom, and Steven Davis found similar results. According to their research, most respondents said they would like to work from home part of the week, but only the highest paid workers said their employers would give them the ability to.
Prior to the pandemic, working from home was not as segregated as it has become over the past year. While remote workers were traditionally white and had higher pay, the distinction has grown tremendously during the pandemic.