- In January 2024, workers for the first time in the last couple years said they prefer hybrid to remote work: 29 percent prefer hybrid and 23 percent prefer remote.
- That marks a shift from January 2023, when 25 percent preferred hybrid and 27 percent preferred remote; and from January 2022, when 27 percent preferred hybrid and 29 percent preferred remote.
- While remote work has fallen in popularity by two points each year, hybrid work saw a two-point dip in popularity in 2023, before rebounding in 2024 with a four-point increase.
Workers in 2024 say they prefer hybrid work to remote work, reversing a trend seen in the immediate aftermath of the global pandemic, according to a new Morning Consult “State of Workers” survey published on Tuesday.
In January 2024, workers for the first time in the last couple years said they prefer hybrid to remote work: 29 percent prefer hybrid and 23 percent prefer remote.
That marks a shift from January 2023, when 25 percent preferred hybrid and 27 percent preferred remote; and from January 2022, when 27 percent preferred hybrid and 29 percent preferred remote.
While remote work has fallen in popularity by two points each year, hybrid work saw a two-point dip in popularity in 2023, before rebounding in 2024 with a four-point increase.
Still, most workers say they currently do most of their work in person, and a plurality of workers say that’s the way they prefer it. Those numbers remain unchanged from last year: in January 2024 and in January 2023, 63 percent of workers said they work mostly in person and 46 percent said they prefer to do most of their work in person.
Remote work has become slightly less common, with 21 percent saying they do most of their work in person in 2024, compared to 23 percent in 2023.
Among those who work mostly remotely, workers said a flexible dress code (56 percent), greater compensation for childcare (55 percent) and coverage for commuting costs (52 percent) would either probably or definitely motivate them to go into the office more.
Hybrid work remains uncommon, with only 12 percent using the term to describe their current work habits, but a strong plurality of adults (30 percent) say they will seek hybrid work opportunities when applying for future jobs.
That trend was especially apparent among Gen Z adults, 38 percent of whom said they would seek hybrid jobs, and among Millennials, 35 percent of whom said the same.
Requests to return to in-person work full time would likely not bode well: Among employed adults, 38 percent said they would seek other job opportunities if their employers required them to do so. On the other hand, 32 percent of employed adults said they would seek other job opportunities if they were required to work full-time remote.
The Morning Consult survey was conducted online on Jan. 17-20, 2024, among 6,625 adults, including 3,389 employed adults. The unweighted margins of error are +/- 1 percentage point and +/- 2 percentage points, respectively.
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