Remote work isn’t just a passing trend, it’s a permanent shift in how companies operate worldwide. While headlines often swing between “remote work is dying” and “the office is obsolete,” the reality lies somewhere in between.
Sources indicate that around 16% of companies worldwide operate as fully remote organizations, showing that fully remote work remains a minority model but an increasingly influential part of the global business landscape.
In this post, we break down how many companies are fully remote, track the year-over-year changes, explore which industries and company sizes are most likely to go remote-first, and explain why businesses continue to adopt fully remote models despite ongoing return-to-office pressures.
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Remote work isn’t just a passing trend, it’s a permanent shift in how companies operate worldwide. While headlines often swing between “remote work is dying” and “the office is obsolete,” the reality lies somewhere in between.
Sources indicate that around 16% of companies worldwide operate as fully remote organizations, showing that fully remote work remains a minority model but an increasingly influential part of the global business landscape.
In this post, we break down how many companies are fully remote, track the year-over-year changes, explore which industries and company sizes are most likely to go remote-first, and explain why businesses continue to adopt fully remote models despite ongoing return-to-office pressures.
Author
Co-author
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Leah Maglalang
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Fully remote companies remain a minority, yet their share has increased sharply since 2020 and is concentrated in technology, finance, and professional services.
Surveys show only a minority of firms are fully remote. For example, an Upwork analysis (2025) finds 37% of companies are already fully remote, and 28% more expect to be fully remote within 5 years.
In contrast, an Owl Labs study reports 16% of companies worldwide are fully remote. A multi‑country survey similarly found about 13.6% of companies had fully remote policies.
Companies embracing remote flexibility have outpaced traditional peers. A global “Flex Index” report (2019–2024) found firms allowing remote work grew revenues about 1.7× faster than fully on-site companies.
Even after adjusting for size and industry, remote‑friendly companies grew roughly 34% faster per year than office-bound peers. This growth edge was especially pronounced in smaller firms.
Few companies are reversing course: by 2026 only 30% of firms plan to eliminate remote options, implying 70% will maintain some remote work. (In other words, remote work policies are expanding or stabilizing in the majority of firms.)
U.S. data reflect this trend: telework adoption rose from 19.9% (Oct 2022) to 23.6% (Jan 2025) of employees (an 18.6% increase).
Overall, the number of fully remote (as opposed to hybrid) roles has grown compared to pre-2020 levels (see Historical section below).
Talent and recruiting: Remote policies vastly expand the candidate pool. In one survey, 76% of companies said hiring is no longer geography-dependent when remote work is allowed. Employers cite wider access to global talent and increased diversity as major incentives for remote-first models.
Productivity and performance: Numerous studies report productivity gains under remote work. For example, a well-known Stanford study found a 22% increase in performance for remote employees vs. in-office. Mercer’s survey of employers found 94% reported remote productivity was the same or higher compared to pre-remote levels. Such data convince many firms that remote work does not harm output.
Employee retention and loyalty: Flexible work policies improve morale and retention. A FlexJobs survey found 79% of workers said they’d be more loyal to an employer with more remote/flexible options. (Conversely, a sizable share of workers say they would quit if forced back full-time in-office.) Remote work has become an important retention tool.
Roughly 56% of companies worldwide permit at least some remote work. According to Owl Labs, that breaks down to 16% fully remote, 40% hybrid, and 44% offering no remote work. In other words, nearly half of firms now allow some remote flexibility.
Pre-Pandemic vs Post-Pandemic: Remote work was rare before 2020. Only 6.5% of U.S. private-sector workers worked primarily from home in 2019. The pandemic forced a huge shift (e.g. 88% of firms went remote in spring 2020). By mid-2020, roughly one-third of the U.S. workforce was working from home.
After 2020: Remote levels have settled above pre-2020 norms but below peak. In the U.S., as of 2024‑2025 about 22–23% of workers are remote on a regular basis (up from 5–6% pre-2020). Globally, many companies moved from entirely remote back to hybrid after 2021. For example, one summary table shows “fully remote” companies drop from 27% in 2021 to 7–11% by 2024 (reflecting firms reintroducing office days).
Ongoing demand: Employee surveys consistently show strong demand for flexibility. For instance, a 2023 Buffer survey found 99% of current remote workers want to continue remote work, and 84% prefer working remotely to working in-office. Despite companies dialing back, this sustained demand drives many organizations to maintain hybrid policies.
Expansion of remote roles: Job posting analyses (e.g. Robert Half surveys) and labor data (BLS) show remote/hybrid openings have remained elevated. For example, one report found 12–13% of new U.S. professional job postings in late 2025 were fully remote (with another 23–24% hybrid). Likewise, U.S. telework rates in 2022–2024 stabilized around 18–23% of workers, well above pre-pandemic.
Job-posting shifts: Quarterly surveys show only modest declines in remote postings. For instance, the share of new U.S. tech jobs listed as fully remote was 12% in Q3 2025 (up from 11% in Q3 2024). (Hybrid postings remained larger, around 23–24% of listings.)
U.S. labor data: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (CPS) reports the share of employees working at home (full or part time) has held roughly steady since 2022. Between Q4 2022 and Q4 2023, for example, remote-at least-one-day rates hovered around 20–23%. (Flatworld data summarize an increase from 19.9% in Oct 2022 to 23.6% by Jan 2025.)
United States: Flexible work is common in smaller firms: 67% of U.S. companies with <500 employees operate fully flexibly (i.e. remote). Overall only about a quarter of U.S. firms allow zero-office days (fully remote); by Q3 2025, 24% of U.S. companies permitted no required office days.
Job Postings: In Q3 2025, 12% of new U.S. professional job postings were fully remote, 24% hybrid, and 64% on-site. This aligns with industry breakdowns (see below).
Canada: 11% of new job postings were fully remote in Q3 2025. Tech roles led in remote posting share (14% fully remote), while finance roles had only 6% fully remote. Major Canadian cities saw 5–8% of listings fully remote.
Workforce Share: Roughly 22% of the U.S. workforce (32.6 million people) works remotely in 2025
Employee Adoption: By 2023, about 20% of EU employees worked hybrid and ~10% fully remotely. Certain EU countries saw >15% of workers fully remote (e.g. Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Sweden). Northern/Western Europe leads (Nordics, Netherlands), Eastern/Southern Europe lower.
Industries: Remote work is concentrated in ICT and professional services. Eurostat (2024) found 52.9% of EU firms (10+ employees) held online meetings. About 60.2% of EU enterprises offered full remote access to email, documents and business applications. By size: 91.9% of large (250+ emp) EU firms provide full remote tool access vs. 56.0% of small (10–49 emp) firms.
Regional Trends: APAC companies report very high remote staffing. In a 2024 survey of key APAC markets (Australia, India, Singapore, etc.), 68–70% of firms said over 70% of their full-time employees are remote. Moreover, 78% of APAC firms plan to hire >60% of their staff as remote roles. This indicates rapid growth in remote adoption across APAC.
Japan: 51% of Japanese professionals say remote work is permitted in their company, but only 27.4% actually work remotely. Japanese workers show strong hybrid interest: 62% want some remote option (only 19.7% prefer full-time home).
Other APAC Markets: While data vary by country, the trend is clear: Asia-Pacific’s tech and professional sectors are expanding remote hiring. For example, digitalized economies like India, Singapore, and South Korea are seeing significant upticks in remote job postings and remote-friendly policies (e.g. start-ups and IT firms often fully remote).
Adoption Rate: A January 2024 JLL report found only 10% of Latin American companies had remote-work policies, far below Europe’s 29% and Asia-Pacific’s 25%. In practice, many LatAm firms remain office-centric.
Employee Preferences: Surveys indicate strong worker appetite: 70% of LatAm workers would choose remote or hybrid (Deel/Opinaia survey), with hybrid most preferred; only 25% prefer fully remote. Notably, 85% of MENA (Middle East/North Africa) respondents preferred remote options (reflective of LatAm as well).
Remote Talent: Nearshoring is significant in LatAm: over 2.2 million Brazilian, Argentine, and Mexican professionals worked remotely for global companies in 2023, indicating a growing remote tech workforce.
Connectivity & Growth: Remote work is nascent but growing, especially in tech hubs (e.g. UAE, South Africa). Formal data are limited, but surveys show strong interest. A Bayt.com survey found 85% of MENA professionals prefer employers offering remote options.
Challenges: Varying internet access and corporate cultures slow widespread adoption. However, some Gulf countries report rising flexible-work policies (e.g. forecast 46% remote workforce by 2024 in Gulf countries) and digital nomad visa programs.
Sources: AllWork, RobertHalf, Neat, MWN, Pumble, SecondTalent
U.S. (Richmond Fed 2021): Large firms report much more remote work – on average 41% of employees work from home ≥1 day/week at large firms, vs. 21% at midsize firms and 33% at small firms. This reflects greater capacity to support remote arrangements.
U.S. Flexibility (Flex Index): 67% of U.S. companies <500 employees are fully flexible/remote. By contrast, only 25% of all firms (any size) allow zero-office-days, implying very low fully-remote rates in large companies.
EU Remote Access (2024): 91.9% of large (250+ emp) EU enterprises provide full remote access to work tools, versus 78.2% of medium (50–249) and 56.0% of small (10–49) enterprises.
Remote roles by sector (U.S. Q3 2025): Technology and Marketing/Creative fields each have 15% of new roles fully remote; Finance/Accounting 13%; Healthcare 11%; Admin/Customer Support 8%; Legal 9%; HR 5%.
Flexible Policies by Industry (U.S.): 94% of tech companies offer fully flexible work, 92% of insurance firms do, and 82% of financial services firms do. (These industries thus have more remote-friendly companies.)
Regional Industry Trends: Globally, sectors requiring on-site presence (e.g. hospitality, manufacturing) have very low remote adoption; service and knowledge sectors (IT, finance, consulting) lead remote hiring. For example, 84% of retail/hospitality workers are always on-site, versus only 54% in professional services
Industry | % of New Roles Fully Remote |
Marketing/Creative | 15% |
Technology | 15% |
Finance/Accounting | 13% |
Healthcare | 11% |
Admin/Customer Svc. | 8% |
Legal | 9% |
Human Resources | 5% |
Enterprise ICT (EU 2024): 52.9% of EU enterprises (≥10 emp) held remote meetings in 2024. 60.2% of firms offered full remote-access tools (email, document and application access) to employees.
Size Differences: Large EU enterprises are most digitally equipped: 91.9% give full remote access, vs. 78.2% of medium and 56.0% of small enterprises.
Equipment Stipends: Only 20–25% of global companies fully subsidize home office equipment for remote workers, indicating most firms require employees to cover their own setups.
Adoption (US): Roughly 44% of U.S. firms disallow any remote work, and only 16% hire exclusively remote employees, per one survey. (This suggests many companies still lack full remote readiness.)
Retention: Controlled studies show hybrid work sharply reduces turnover. For example, hybrid WFH (2 days/week) cut quits by 33% (one-third) in a 6-month trial. Flexible work is a strong retention tool: 76% of U.S. workers said flexibility (remote/hybrid) makes them more likely to stay at a job.
Engagement & Well-being: Surveys (Gallup) indicate fully remote employees often show higher engagement scores (remote workers more likely to be “thriving”) but may experience more isolation/stress. Overall satisfaction tends to be higher with flexibility.
Trust: 54% of U.S. managers “strongly trust” remote employees to be productive, and 57% of remote workers feel trusted.
Preferences: Post-COVID, a majority of workers highly value remote options. (HBS research: 40% would take a ~5% pay cut to avoid full-time office work
Sources: Richmondfed, ApolloTechnical
Work Models (US): By Q3 2025, 25% of U.S. firms allowed fully remote work, 38% required 2–3 office days (structured hybrid), and 32% remained full-time in-office. Job ad data show 12% fully remote vs 24% hybrid roles.
Global Share: One global survey (Owl Labs) estimates 16% of companies worldwide are fully remote. Conversely, a large fraction remain predominantly on-site.
Trends: Hybrid models are growing: hybrid arrangements now outweigh strictly in-office policies. In the U.S., hybrid job postings rose from 15% (Q2 2023) to 24% (Q2 2025), while fully office postings fell from 83% to 66%.
Hybrid Boosts Retention: As noted, hybrid schedules dramatically cut attrition (−33%). This implies fully remote firms (or hybrid ones) see better retention than all in-office firms.
Stability: Surveys find employees offered remote options are likely to stay. For instance, in one study 76% said flexibility influences their job-tenure decision, indicating lower churn at remote-friendly companies.
Salary Adjustments: Remote flexibility has quantifiable value to workers. One study found 40% of U.S. workers would accept a ≥5% pay cut to keep remote options. Another 9% would forgo ≥20% salary to avoid full-time office work. This implies remote-first employers may competitively pay slightly less in exchange for flexibility.
Benefits: Firms fully remote often substitute location-based benefits (e.g. co-working stipends, home office allowances). However, only 20–25% of companies cover home-office costs, so many remote workers self-fund equipment. In contrast, on-site employers typically provide workplace resources.
Industry Leaders: Technology and professional services have the highest prevalence of remote-first firms. For example, FlexIndex notes 94% of tech firms and 82–92% of finance/insurance firms allow full flexibility. These sectors thus contain most fully-remote companies.
Lagging Sectors: Industries requiring physical presence (retail, hospitality, construction) have very few fully-remote companies (most employees on-site). In service sectors like healthcare and education, only certain roles (e.g. admin) are remote.
Sources: WeForum, HBS, StandfordReport, Nature
Fully remote companies may not represent the majority of businesses worldwide, but they play a disproportionately large role in shaping modern work.
The data shows a clear pattern: while only a small share of companies operate fully remote, a much larger and growing percentage support remote or hybrid work.
In short, fully remote companies are no longer experimental outliers. They are a stable, proven segment of the global economy, and their influence will continue to expand as businesses compete for talent, control costs, and adapt to a more distributed workforce.
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