Report: Remote workers more likely to be laid off
- WSJ: Managers were more likely to let go of fully remote workers last year
- Some industries where remote work is possible overhired during the pandemic
- Separate study concluded return-to-office mandates are often about control
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(NewsNation) — Remote workers are more frequently laid off than their in-office and hybrid peers, but they’re also more likely to quit, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis.
Managers in 2023 were 35% more likely to let go of employees who worked fully remote, according to the WSJ’s analysis of two million white-collar workers. Employment data was provided by Live Data Technologies.
About 10% of fully remote workers were laid off in 2023, compared with 7% of those who worked full time or hybrid in an office, the analysis found.
Many of last year’s layoffs happened in the technology industry, which one consulting firm manager said overhired during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Remote workers are also more likely to quit. Last year, about 12% of fully remote employees left their jobs and started a new one within two months. About 9% of hybrid or fully in-office employees did the same, according to the Journal, which cited Live Data Technologies.
A separate study from the University of Pittsburgh found that return-to-office mandates not only lower employee satisfaction but also don’t significantly boost profits.
The researchers’ findings contradict claims that managers require staff to return to an office setting because it increases company value.
Instead, the study found leadership uses such mandates to “reassert control over employees and blame employees as a scapegoat for bad firm performance.”