Nearly all workers would take a pay cut to WFH forever

Man working on a laptop with a monitor
(Image credit: Luke Peters / Unsplash)

For many employees, the answer to the work from home versus commute-to-office dilemma is a no-brainer: they’d all much rather stay at home.

A report from Vidyard and market analysts Atomik Research found that although workers understand they’re missing out on a few perks by staying remote, they still think the benefits far outweigh the negatives.

In a poll of 503 financial service professionals working in sales, marketing, human resources, or client services-related job functions, the report found almost all (96%) of the respondents would give up a portion of their salary to permanently stay remote. Of that number, almost a third (30%) would give up half of their monthly earnings not to be forced back.

Sacrificing "perks" of office life

But it’s not just the salary - they’re willing to give up many of the advantages of office work, such as health insurance, and paid time off, to permanently remain remote, or in a hybrid working model.

Should they be forced back, they worry about a number of things, from their productivity plummeting, to the levels of stress blowing through the roof, to their job satisfaction disappearing, to - their dog missing them, gravely.

In fact, most believe they’re a lot more productive while working at home, and think the company, as a whole, experienced a productivity boost. They’re claiming to be better at handling distractions, better at managing their time, and believe office politics don’t waste as much of their time as they used to.

On the other hand, not being in the office means sacrificing a few things, the report further found. Almost two in five (38%) feel ignored when participating in meetings, a third (33%) believe their big wins aren’t appreciated enough, and 31% fear missing out on great business opportunities, as a result of working remotely.

Sead is a seasoned freelance journalist based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He writes about IT (cloud, IoT, 5G, VPN) and cybersecurity (ransomware, data breaches, laws and regulations). In his career, spanning more than a decade, he’s written for numerous media outlets, including Al Jazeera Balkans. He’s also held several modules on content writing for Represent Communications.