96% of People Say Remote or Hybrid Work Is Best For Their Mental Health

According to FlexJobs’ 2023 Work Insights Survey of over 5,600 people, 96% of workers believe a remote or hybrid work arrangement would be best for their mental health. A hybrid workplace was reported as the ideal for 49% of workers, slightly outpacing a preference for a fully remote arrangement (47%). Only 4% of workers thought being in an office full-time was best for their mental health. Decreased stress levels was the top reported health benefit of remote work.

“Whether it’s due to reduced commuting stress, improved sleep, healthier eating, or decreased anxiety, workers clearly believe that remote work has an overall positive impact on their mental health,” said Sara Sutton, Founder and CEO of FlexJobs.

Mental Health

Working arrangements: 96% of workers think that remote or hybrid work would be the best working arrangement for their mental health. More specifically:

47% said remote-only, completely working from home would be best for their mental health

24% said hybrid, mostly remote, with occasional in-office work would be best

17% said hybrid, remote with 2-3 days in the office would be best

8% said hybrid, mostly in-office, with occasional remote work time would be best

4% said in the office full-time, not working remotely at all would be best

56% said having a job with remote work options has improved or would “definitely” improve their mental health.

Commuting Stress: 87% of workers say commuting impacts their stress levels to some degree, with over half (58%) specifying that commuting has either an enormous impact or it impacts them a lot.

29% says it has an enormous impact on their stress levels

29% says it impacts stress levels a lot

29% says it impacts stress levels a little bit

13% says it has no impact

Top Health Benefits: 48% of respondents said “decreased stress levels” was the top health benefit from remote work. Additional impacts cited:

Less burnout (36%)

Healthier food choices (35%)

Reduced anxiety and depression (34%)

Improved overall mental health (33%)

Improved sleep (32%)

Increased exercise (30%)

Improved overall physical health (28%)

Improved personal relationships (23%)

Pay Transparency

79% of people think that employers should be required by law to include salary in job postings. 11% said no and 10% weren’t sure.

1 in 5 (20%) said they refuse to apply to jobs when the salary isn’t listed

52% would only apply to a job without the salary listed if it was a “really great” job

Career Outlook & Optimism

44% say they are more optimistic about their career prospects today compared to this time last year (May 2022)

33% are more pessimistic about their career prospects compared to last year

The remaining 23% said there was no change

Remote Work Findings

Ideal Work Arrangement: Moving forward, 95% of workers want some form of remote or hybrid work.

54% want to work from home full-time

41% say hybrid is ideal

5% would prefer full-time office work

Women prefer fully remote work environments more so than men, with 58% identifying this as the ideal compared to 42% of men who want to work full time from home.

Career Progression: Nearly one-third think a remote or hybrid job positively impacts career growth.

30% say that having a remote or hybrid job has a positive impact on their career progression

28% say it has no impact

20% say it has a negative impact

22% weren’t sure

Collaboration: More than one-third think collaboration suffers in a remote environment.

36% think collaboration suffers in a remote environment

33% don’t think it has an impact

19% think collaboration improves in a remote environment

12% weren’t sure

Men are more likely to think collaboration suffers in a remote environment, with 41% claiming the negative impact vs 34% of women who say the same

Challenges: The top challenges for remote workers are not related to productivity, but rather overworking (28%) and not leaving the house enough (28%). The biggest struggles as a remote or hybrid worker cited by respondents:

Not getting out of the house often enough (28%)

Overworking or working more (28%)

Working across different time zones (19%)

Developing strong relationships with co-workers (19%)

Troubleshooting technology problems (18%)

Dealing with non-work distractions (17%)

Being “invisible” to their boss (16%)