Story at a glance
- In January 2024, for the first time in the last couple of years, workers stated a preference for hybrid work over remote work: 29 percent preferred hybrid and 23 percent preferred remote.
- This marks a change 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.
- Although remote work has become less popular by two points each year, hybrid work experienced a decrease in popularity in 2023 before bouncing back in 2024 with a four-point increase.
Workers in 2024 express a preference for hybrid work over remote work, a reversal of the trend seen after the global pandemic, according to a new Morning Consult “State of Workers” survey published on Tuesday.
In January 2024, for the first time in the last couple of years, workers stated a preference for hybrid work over remote work: 29 percent preferred hybrid and 23 percent preferred remote.
This marks a change 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.
Although remote work has become less popular by two points each year, hybrid work experienced a decrease in popularity in 2023 before bouncing back in 2024 with a four-point increase.
However, most workers currently do most of their work in person, and the majority of them say that’s the way they prefer it. These figures remain unchanged from last year: in January 2024 and 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 mentioned that a flexible dress code (56 percent), better compensation for childcare (55 percent), and coverage for commuting costs (52 percent) would likely motivate them to go into the office more.
Hybrid work remains uncommon, with only 12 percent describing their current work habits as such, but a large majority of adults (30 percent) say they will seek hybrid work opportunities in their future job hunts.
This trend was notably visible among Gen Z adults, with 38 percent expressing interest in hybrid jobs, as well as among Millennials, with 35 percent showing similar interest.
Requests to return to in-person work full time would likely not be well-received: Among employed adults, 38 percent said they would look for 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.
