Majority of work from home job listings now ‘temporarily remote’, as return to office nears
The foundations of a return to office are being laid, the latest job advertisement data has shown, with 60 per cent of remote roles are now ‘temporary’.
Data by job advertising site Indeed found more than half of job vacancies posted on the site since January are ‘temporarily remote’, as opposed to 37 per cent at the end last year.
The majority of employers have now classified their positions as remote due to Covid-19, instead of on a solely work from home basis.
“It is still too early to tell whether widespread home-working will outlive the pandemic, but the rise in job vacancies that qualify their need for remote-working as ‘temporary’ hints that many employers are keen to welcome their workers back to the office in the future, at least for part of the working week,” head of EMEA research at Indeed, Pawel Adrjan, said.
The shift in attitudes toward office work contrasts starkly with the 28 per cent of listings for ‘temporary’ remote roles during November’s Covid lockdown.
Even positions where working from home became the standard during the pandemic are now advertised as ‘temporarily remote’.
The job listings trend could suggests employers are optimistic about the return to the office, as the vaccine roll-out prompts ideas of being ‘back to normal’ by summer.
Adrjan added: “Future working practices could therefore involve less working from home than during lockdown, but more than before the pandemic. The office is not dead but we may visit it less than we used to.”
Over the pandemic, the number of jobs calling for home working on Indeed has jumped from three per cent to 12 per cent.
Work from home has been a welcomed novelty for some, and a logistical nightmare for others.
However, it has left high streets grappling with the impacts of reduced foot traffic.
“The sudden and seemingly irresistible rise of remote working has raised the most questions, because of what it means for city centres and businesses that rely on office workers’ footfall and spending,” Ardjan said.