Gartner: 41% of employees likely to work remotely at least part of the time from now on

A Gartner, Inc. survey of 229 HR leaders on April 2 revealed that nearly 50% of organizations reported 81% or more of their employees are working remotely during the coronavirus pandemic. 

Another 15% of those surveyed said 61-80% of employees are working remotely at this time. The Gartner survey showed that many workers are planning to work remotely more often in the future.

“While 30% of employees surveyed worked remotely at least part of the time before the pandemic, Gartner analysis reveals that post-pandemic, 41% of employees are likely to work remotely at least some of the time,” said Brian Kropp, chief of research for the Gartner HR practice. “Ultimately, the COVID-19 pandemic has many employees planning to work in a way that they hadn’t previously considered.”

Though remote workers are highly productive, the turnover risk is much higher. A 1Q20 Gartner Survey of more than 5,000 employees found that 48% of fully remote employees exhibit high discretionary effort, versus 35% of employees who never work remotely. The same survey revealed that the percentage of employees exhibiting high intent to stay with their current employer is 13 percentage points higher among those who never work remotely.

Graphic courtesy of Dreamstime.com