Paleovalley reposted this
A lot of people think about remote worker as a bunch of young "tech bros" working a few hours from their cool downtown lofts between trips to the gym and happy hours. But remote workers are actually: - Moms who are the primary parent at home and can only remain engaged in the workforce with the flexibility that remote work offers (and note that I am very intentional in naming moms here due to the research that moms specifically benefit as they are the ones frequently pushed out of the workforce). - People who had to move back home to care for parents and are no longer proximate to employment in their field. - People who can't afford to live in the priciest cities who can now access great work opportunities that can be life changing for them and their families. - People who have conditions that make it dangerous or impossible to commute or work from an office. - Military spouses who are serving our country while moving frequently or living in places with out as many civilian opportunities making it hard to maintain employment that isn't remote. Remote work has been shown to: - Increase workforce participation for marginalized groups - especially women, neurodivergent people, and people with disabilities. - Save the average worker 55 minutes/day in commute time, and $12k annually in commute costs. - Cut a worker's greenhouse emissions by 54%. - Be a benefit that many workers value above salary, PTO, perks, etc. - Increase productivity based on manager surveys, and perceptions of manager trust for workers. Does remote or hybrid work make sense for every workplace? No. But is it a fantastic way to help companies access a more diverse workforce, and help more people be active in the workforce? Absolutely.