The Rise of Remote Work: Evidence on Productivity and Preferences from Firm and Worker Surveys
37 Pages Posted: 26 Jun 2020
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The Rise of Remote Work: Evidence on Productivity and Preferences from Firm and Worker Surveys
Harvard Business School Entrepreneurial Management Working Paper No. 20-138, Harvard Business School NOM Unit Working Paper No. 20-138
Number of pages: 37
Posted: 26 Jun 2020
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What Jobs are Being Done at Home During the Covid-19 Crisis? Evidence from Firm-Level Surveys
NBER Working Paper No. w27422
Number of pages: 26
Posted: 29 Jun 2020
Last Revised: 05 Jun 2023
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279
Date Written: June 01, 2023
Abstract
Drawing on surveys of small business owners and employees, we present three main findings about the evolution of remote work after the onset of COVID-19. First, uptake of remote work was abrupt and widespread in jobs suitable for telework according to the task-based measure from Dingel and Neiman (2020). The initial adoption lead to a persistent shift in work arrangements that both firms and workers forecast would continue into the future. Second, business leaders’ perceptions of how remote work affected productivity shifted over time. In early 2020, 70 percent of small business owners reported a productivity dip due to remote work. By contrast, the median business owner reported a positive productivity impact of remote work by 2021. Third, 21 percent of workers report being willing to accept a pay cut in excess of 10 percent if it allowed them to continue working from home, but the median worker in a teleworkable job would not tradeoff any compensation for the option of continued remote work. Taken together, our evidence points to perceived productivity gains and some workers’ preferences as reasons for the persistence of remote work in the years following the onset of COVID-19.
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Bartik, Alexander and Cullen, Zoe and Glaeser, Edward L. and Luca, Michael and Stanton, Christopher,
The Rise of Remote Work: Evidence on Productivity and Preferences from Firm and Worker Surveys
(June 01, 2023). Harvard Business School Entrepreneurial Management Working Paper No. 20-138, Harvard Business School NOM Unit Working Paper No. 20-138, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3634983 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3634983
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